CTBUH Skyscaper Competition

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil there are significant amounts of slum districts which are called “favelas” and more than 25% of the population lives there. Although the favela life style is a part of the Brazilian culture, there are some problems that it causes. Some of the major problems are to do with housing, infrastructure, and poverty. The core idea behind the proposed project is that using simple structural systems and renewable and sustainable energy will help citizens to continue to live their culture while offering them a place where they can find and construct their own living spaces in a vertical neighborhood without affecting others. Favelas tend to expand and spread, so over time housing will start from the bottom and continue to the top of the structure. As one of the most significant characteristics of the favela type housing, inhabitants will build their own households and they will be able to use the resources which the structure itself provides. There are some extra open spaces in the structure which helps inhabitants instantly feel more free. These open spaces are structurally specialized, so in this rigid form they can become specific urban spaces such as marketplaces, playfields, schoolyards, observation terraces, urban planting etc. While keeping the life and culture of the streets of the favelas,the project also offers other social places. Through time, the structure allows for the hosting of more citizens and thus the life and the structure may keep growing and evolving. In conclusion, the main idea is to offer citizens a space with suitable infrastructure that makes their living conditions better and more sustainable, yet not touch their culture.