Victoria and I got a great opportunity to see the estate of Roberto Burle Marx, Brazil’s most famous landscape architect. Marx has a signature style of designing his landscape the way he would paint a painting. The concept has made him very famous as a designer, but I was not sure exactly how I would like it once I saw it in person. I have to give Marx credit for how much he pays in tribute to Brazil in his work instead of grasping inspiration solely on this style. He works with the richness of plant variety that the country allows for, and many times commits to using native plants to do so. He also considers many social struggles to create symbolism in his work, as he does on the sidewalks of the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana, which have black and white designs meant to show the blending of races in Brazil.
I was admittedly surprised with how lovely I found Burle Marx’ estate to be. I myself am not big on fine art and was also having a hard time imagining plants all behaving neatly like paint strokes. I quite enjoy the self-governing nature of plants. The tour described Marx to make very careful decisions on only the best art
pieces, so much so that he never got to see his studio finished in time before his passing. However, it soon became obvious to me that the plants were not meant to be kept in such strict order, and were mainly organized in flowing, artistic choices while behaving freely. Even if the choices were very particular, there’s no denial that they were well made. I do appreciate how natural structure gets to shine through visual organization, and I was happy to see such healthy and beautiful plants taking the spot light in these designs. I feel it is a great addition to the richness of the area, and to the lively Brazilian style.
Rio does not only respond to its land, it also responds to needs, to surroundings, and to the times. Many buildings in the city are noticeably antique, while others are quite modern. There was no evident movement to build all neighborhoods in one style, or one to keep buildings in modern architecture, but somehow all these differences meld into each other in a lively manner. The theme that resonates, holding all these things together, is the force of nature that is present all throughout the city. Seeing this has gotten me to rethink the concept of city planning for aesthetics. I now consider that city designs might not need to be so particularly managed to work well if there is a theme that is holding the differences together. With that thought, I welcome the idea of how much easier that would make it to address areas with personal consideration, with less worry of complying to a general picture. Because of that ease, I believe it’s possible for Rio to better address its favelas by extending the same approach and distributing some more investment.
heavy rainfall. But all surroundings considered, doing away with that is more complicated than just dealing with the results. The government does arrive to tell people they cannot live in those dangerous conditions, but many times the people have no other option but to stay anyway. On a rare opportunity where the government provides those endangered citizens with new houses, it will be in a farther location, which can make things difficult for them. Many people will sell the house they were given and move back to the old house where they are closer to their jobs, or simply to benefit from the boost in their finances. If the power of drug dealers over how those people live is considered, those solutions can be even further complicated. Yet, though it might seem like a
Many of the investments the city of Rio has made are beautiful and quite successful, but these investments did not greatly disturb the function of communities. When new structures did interfere with communities, usually with f avelas, there was an unforeseen backlash. The people whose communities were challenged, such as it was with Vila Autodromo, had little money and were expected to gratefully take reimbursements to move elsewhere. That was not entirely the case. When a demolition of a favela comes into play, there are protests despite the money they are offered. People fight for what they value there. If we consider favelas for the choice they are, even Brazilian citizens can open their minds into the riches they have provided. The people in favelas created for themselves with great effort, in very challenging slope, a community near the city they want to be in and in an environment they grew together in. They like their communities. The question of whether the neighborhoods suit the people is not in location, but in resources. The people have designed for themselves a culture in these places that can be responded to with greater investment for strength and structure. They do not need to turn into the blank slate that the government has tried to make of them many times. It does not need to be tidy and neat to work beautifully, it only needs funding where the people value it. And as it has worked throughout the tourist and working class communities, I don’t see why it would not work in the poor areas of the favelas as well.
