Architecture Design Option Studio — Amazonia Studio, MANAUS, waterfront + igarapé (Bucci)
- in collaboration with Marcos Cereto, UFAM, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
The third edition of Amazonia Studio is in Manaus, the largest city in the region with 2.5 million people. Manaus is situated at the border of Rio Negro, right before its junction with Rio Solimões to become the immense Rio Amazonas, the Amazon River. The hydrological condition of Manaus also made the place a cultural hub for ancestors and outsiders, as if it was a metropolis for native peoples well before its modern cosmopolitan incarnation after the arrival of post-Colombian colonizers. Today it remains a metropolis for two worlds at same time. The city of Manaus represents an extremely rich cultural amalgamation that can be perceived in works, music, clothes, food and architecture.
More than this, it imprinted a unique spatial culture defined by people living on the water, on the ground, and in the huge range of situations in between. Specifically, this studio will be focused on two related topics: a two-kilometer-long stretch of waterfront facing the Rio Negro and two remarkable igarapés: Mindu and Educandos.
Waterfront
This stretch of the waterfront corresponds to the harbor of Manaus, formally established in 1899. The port is quite active and plays a crucial inner and outer role, both connecting different regions inside Amazonia and linking the Amazon with the rest of the world. Historically, after the decline of the rubber market in the region, a floating city was settled there, growing up to an estimated population of 12,000 people. Then, in the end of the 60’s, it was destroyed. More than haunted by a wrecked city, the rim of Manaus faces a tough task: 14m is the average seasonal changing of the Rio Negro’s water level. Exploring the possibility of a floating waterfront for Manaus aims at establishing a consistent configuration between historic and fluvial conditions.
Igarapés
An Igarapé designates a branch of river going into, originally, a piece of forest. Although many Igarapés have been drained and built over, several of them remain inside the urban area of Manaus. Historically, the relationship between the constructed landscape and the typical geomorphology of an igarapé was marked by the use of a local architectural typology: the palafittes, usually for housing. More and more, an environmental agenda has changed common understanding about the crucial role of Igarapés in mediating water and land conditions. A public program entitled PROSAMIM — Programa Social e Ambiental dos Igarapés de Manaus — was established in 2003 targeting two types of actions. The first is environmentally oriented, aimed at developing urbanization and affordable housing. The second, is socially and institutionally oriented. Both the Educandos and Mindu igarapés were partially redefined by this program. Igarapés suggest a delicate and fine relationship between water, park and constructions. It could represent, as an essay, the relationship between river with forest, and between both of them — forest and river — with architecture.
Work in partnership / design in dialogue
The studio will be in touch with people from Manaus. At a first glance, we will receive as guest lecturers, Marcos Cereto and Isabella De Bonnis, faculty at the School of Architecture at the Federal University of Amazonas, UFAM, and Roberto Moita, a renowned architect in Manaus. A studio trip, during spring break, will further our connection with local people and institutions.