Description
Final Graduation Project (School of Architecture & Urban Planning). Awarded top honors.
This project consists of an architectural intervention in a downtown bus terminal in the city of Brasília, a World Heritage Site. The bus terminal is located in the heart of the city, at the intersection of its two main originating axes, and hides within its structure several very large and empty dead spaces. The intervention consists of three underground buildings interconnected through a long circulation artery. The main access ramp is located in the wide open-air atrium, where open-air movie showings take place. The fluidity of the ramp contrasts with the orthogonal shapes of the buildings. This elevated pathway penetrates all three buildings, creating a democratic atmosphere where all sorts of people can freely circulate and gather. The first building is a library—and its facade a large movie screen. In-between buildings, there are large underground plazas that function as ‘breathing spaces’. The walls of these plazas are intended to be used by graffiti artists, so that local artists are enabled to showcase their work. The second and third buildings are the film school and the cinema complex, respectively. Two vertical towers, the only visible part of the project from the ground, house elevators and stairs.
Graffiti is a transitory art, it does not belong to the artist who created it. Very much like a building, or a city for that matter, doesn't belong to the architect or urban planner who envisioned it. They are mutable beings.
