Brazil Edition, December 2023

I’ve always wanted to visit Brazil –and during December 2023 we visited Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. Many of us have encountered so many strong images from Brasil including Sao Paulo one of the most bustling metropolises in the world, iconic Rio de Janeiro with its dramatic ocean landscapes and reputation for partying, and Brasilia this completely fabricated capital city of Brasil created at the height of mid century modern architecture period. One overriding concern of course is about the reputation for rampant crime which really makes it challenging to plan a trip ensuring one’s safety and enjoyment at the same time.

I decided to use Brazil’s incredible modern architecture as a guiding theme for the visit and engaged the professional services of a local architect afficianado, Jason Bauman (a Swiss expat who spends ½ his time in Rio)-www.insight-architecture.com, who also offered guided tour and travel services. It was the perfect solution where we would be guided privately in each of the cities by a local architect with a driver (sometimes the guide also was our driver). This had the added advantage of keeping us safe and protected from making mistakes which could have serious consequences. It proved to be an wonderful way not only to learn about architecture and history but also be able to have meaningful conversations about myriad of topics. We had the great pleasure of meeting 3 wonderful Brazilian architects in each of the three cities. Leandro in Sao Paulo, Mateus in Brasila and Lucas in Rio de Janeiro.

By way of introduction to our personal biases in making recommendations, we generally love interesting historical and contemporary architecture and design, beautiful topography and vistas, ocean/sea and river views, great food and dining experiences – especially with great views and places where the locals are welcoming and easy to communicate with. We are just as happy with simple local inexpensive places as well as those higher end foodie places, as long as the food is great and the staff welcoming.

I have not received any incentives to recommend any of the places I am recommending.

Sao Paulo

The Rosewood Hotel, Sao Paulo – a 5* experience worth the money!

We stayed at the Rosewood Hotel in Sao Paulo – honestly one of the best and most beautiful hotels I have ever stayed at. This hotel incorporated a colonial style wing which had formerly been the Matarazzo maternity hospital (abandoned for 20 years before the complete redevelopment) with a completely new tower designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and stunning interiors by Philippe Starck. It was my first time staying in a Rosewood hotel. The staff was exceptionally well-trained and friendly, the food was always delicious and the rooms and hotel generally sumptuous. Everywhere we looked there was an interesting artifact, or piece of art or design detail. We had the full breakfast included in our rate and I strongly suggest this option as the breakfast can be eaten outdoors in the beautiful garden or incredible inside. The rooms are stunning and large – felt like you were on a private yacht. The only issue we had was that our room faced a hi rise construction site which was very noisy from the very early morning. When we mentioned this to the staff, the team immediately found another quiet room facing the garden and took care of moving all our stuff for us while we were out touring.

We spent two days with Leandro – a wonderful architect who served as our guide and first look into everything Sao Paulo and Brazil. We started with the main old financial centre where you can see the older beautiful bank and government buildings from the early 20th century – now quite run down and a little sketchy but worth seeing.

We did see a Niemeyer building downtown which gave us a taste of what we would get to see during the rest of our trip. We then saw one of his most impressive buildings in Sao Paulo called the Copan – unfortunately it was completely covered with scaffolding for major renovations.

We made our way to Avenue Paulista – a very grand and impressive main commercial artery – we stopped in at the IMS photography museum and then visited the Conjunto Nacional at 2073 av Paulista

Conjunto Nacional is an important building and commercial centre of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It occupies the block bounded by Avenida Paulista, Rua Augusta, Alameda Santos and Rua Padre João Manuel. The project was authored by architect David Libeskind and is characterized by being one of the first major modern multifunctional buildings deployed in the city of São Paulo. (Source Wikipedia)

We made our way to the exceptional MASP Mid century modern museum which opened in 1968. Exceptional for two reasons: first, the architecture by Lina Bo Bardi an Italian / Brazilian architect who conceived of a building to suit the site and City restrictions; and second for the impressive collection of art with European masters and Brazilian contemporary artists as well telling the unique Brazil stories.

The new MASP building was the brainchild of architect Lina Bo Bardi. To preserve the required view of the downtown area, Bardi idealized a building suspended above ground, supported by four massive rectangular columns made of concrete. The construction is considered to be unique worldwide for its peculiarity: the main body of the building stands on four lateral supporting pillars, generating a free area of 74 meters underneath the sustained building. Constructed between 1956 and 1968, the new site of the museum was inaugurated on 7 November by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom during her visit to Brazil. (Source Wikipedia)

Sao Paulo has a Jewish museum located within a former classic heritage synagogue which gives a fantastic visual history of Jewish migration patterns over the past millenia.  There is also a nice café and bookstore.

The Glass House by Lina Bo Bardi is really worth the visit – reservations are required and tours are available in English and Portuguese.  The house was built in 1951  and followed the principles of modern architecture with the use of the pillars to elevate the residence which allows you to really connect with the nature which is central to the property.

https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/casa-de-vidrio-3

We also visited the Luciana Brito’s Gallery housed in a modern former home designed by acclaimed Brazilan modern architect Rino Levi.

Moshe Safdie designed the newly opened Albert Einstein hospital research wing. One of the biggest surprises was the visit of the newly completed Safdie expansion of this well- established hospital. This was Safdie’s first South American project and is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen… anywhere – from its architectural beauty to its eco credentials and footprint. It feels like you have entered a utopian world…. And it’s part of the hospital!. The hospital is private and allowed us access to visit the public areas.

Ibirapuera Park – Oscar Niemeyer masterpieces

No visit to Sao Paul is complete without a visit to this large landscaped public space with stunning Niemeyer buildings – this is Niemeyer at his best where he was able to design these buildings for the public – still popular today for the whole community even after all these years.

Off to Brasilia next

Brasilia – the Brazilian capital and city planned in the 1950s as the centrepiece of Brazilian optimism about the future.

Brasilia Palace Hotel – Brasilia – designed by Oscar Niemeyer opened originally in 1958 as the very first building in Brasilia. Beautiful architecture but a disappointing experience overall.

I was excited to stay in the Niemeyer designed hotel – even though the hotel had been renovated after being closed for many years following a massive fire it felt more like staying in a college dormitory than a nice hotel. The architecture was very authentic, but the service was unwelcoming. For example - for room service they make you pay every time they bring you something. The Oscar restaurant was quite pretty, and we ate dinner there once (mediocre) and for breakfast as it was included – but even that was subpar – we couldn’t even get a cappuccino or latte in the morning. To make matter worse, the neighbouring property had massive power generators running 24 hours a day which could be heard inside the room even with the windows closed. This reminds me always to ask each time we book a hotel to make sure we are not facing unnecessary construction or noise that can be avoided with different room exposure.

Athos Bulcao was a Brazilian painter and sculptor and contributed many stunning tile designs throughout many buildings in Brasilia – starting with the Brasilia Palace Hotel.

Here are the key highlights from our Brasilia touring. We were very fortunate to have another wonderful architect guide Matheus who was not only passionate about all things Brasilia but also incredibly knowlegable.

Super quadras – invented by Lucio Costa who won the competition for the design of the new City created from nothing! He brought in Oscar Niemeyer and then also Athos Bulcao for the tile work and Roberto Burle Marx the incredibly talented landscape artist from Rio as well as artist Marianne Peretti who contributed many stunning stained glass windows in numerous Brasilia buildings.

Seeing the collaborations over so many years of these immensely talented artists was really inspiring.

Super quadras have stood the test of time and remain immensely popular today to live in. You can feel the value of the transparent columns which define all the residential buildings – allowing pedestrians to see through the buildings and appreciate nature as a continuum as opposed to being visually interrupted by a series of buildings.

The whole creation behind Brasilia was championed by President Juscelino Kubitschek. While he was exiled from Brazil during the military dictatorship, following his death, he was given a fitting memorial which is worth visiting.

Brasilia’s main government buildings are simply stunning – they are famous and don’t disappoint.

Two cathedrals that take your breath away – The Niemeyer designed cathedral is other worldly and stunning – especially when inside. The stained glass again was designed by Mariane Peretti.

 Another cathedral was surprisingly stunning - the Santuario Dom Bosco. It is perhaps even more impressive than the beautiful Niemeyer cathedral– the stained glass and simple design of the sanctuary is beyond words.

And still more Oscar Niemeyer buildings from various decades continuing to experiment and evolve his design thinking.

Rio De Janeiro

In Rio, we stayed at the Hotel Emiliano Copacabana Beach – a contemporary boutique hotel with beautiful design and superb service with a stunning rooftop casual restaurant / bar and dipping pool. The spa and rooftop gym were both appreciated.

The only issue we had was that for 3 days there was a huge swimming marathon competition right on the public beach section across from the hotel and it was extremely loud with loudspeakers and megaphone screaming.

In Rio we were lucky to be guided by Lucas another wonderful architect and Rio native who did a wonderful job sharing his love of Rio with us and taking us to some key highlights.

We had dinner one night at the outdoor terrace of the casual poolside restaurant at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. it was a lovely for dinner and this way we could see the beautiful heritage hotel.

We started in central Rio at the Praca Maua where there were a variety of older heritage buildings as well as a beautiful waterfront Calatrava building

There are some stunning heritage cathedrals that are worth visiting.

In the centre there is the impressive Brutalist Metropolitan Cathedral flanked by some impressive modem buildings.

The Niteroi Contemporary museum designed by Niemeyer is absolutely worth the side tirip to the suburb of Niteroi- not so much for the collection however.

Niemeyer’s own home in rough shape but still worth visiting if you can gain access. There is a foundation that is in the process of restoring it which will be amazing.

There are many other modern great buildings to see in Rio – here are some examples.

Sitio Roberto Burle Marx – one of the best surprises of the entire trip – and definitely worth a day trip.

Roberto Burle Marx was not only the most prolific landscape architects in Brazil with works outside of Brazil as well – but he left behind a remarkable legacy by donating his entire nature reserve that he had personally created outside of Rio where he brought species from around the world to be in one place for preservation and study.  Add to that his artistic prowess both as a sculpture and also building designer and you have an amazing experience full of visual stimulation and learning that will leave you enriched beyond your expectations.  Just make sure that you book a tour with an English guide and also remember to bring or buy insect repellant!

Bira de Guaratiba is a charming restaurant for incredible seafood where they have been providing delicious high quality seafood now heading into the second generation.  The shrimp stew is famous and delicious!

Shopping – Havainas – this Brazilian brand has taken the lowly flip flop and elevated it into a continuous fashion statement – it’s really fun to visit a store and pick your favourite design – for you and also for great easy to carry gifts for back home.

Is the Sugar Loaf cable car worth the effort? Yes! – especially if you can time it for late afternoon sunset.

And our amazing trip to Brazil comes to an end!