2016
Edifício RB 12 - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Designed in the ‘70’s in the downtown of Rio, the building stands in between two other buildings of the same decade.
It is a 85-meters-high building, drawn under a modernist hand, with few green credentials and a huge blind façade that climbs the most part of the block.
The work of the architects consists in the complete adaptation and upgrade of the whole block in order to align it with sustainable development criteria: management of water consumption, optimization of natural light and smart use of natural ventilation.
V-shape windows play in the façade, reflecting and refracting the light to the inner areas of the building.
The interior cooling and thermal control are optimized by the terraces’ suspended gardens and even the useless blind façade had been switched into an energy factory through the installation of photovoltaic panels. The roof garden concludes in a great way the building, bringing up the green and creating a recreation area that offers staff opportunities to take short breaks from their work. The water for irrigating these balconies comes from a new rainwater harvesting system, which is also now used for flushing toilets. RB 12 is part of a larger regeneration project called Porto Maravilha, a still ongoing revitalisation project for the city’s port.

[project selected by Bruno Silva Dos Santos]

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Architecture as Resource / Imprint