Project Goals
The Praça da Cultura Competition is located in a public square in Alagoas, Brazil. The theme of the competition is open but the sociocultural impact and sustainability are questions that must be considered by the teams. The inclusion or exclusion of urban facilities could be proposed thus determining the future use of the square. The Praça da Cultura project may be LEED certified in the future by the Green Building Council of Brazil and for that reason the project needs to meet the requirements to be certified at the basic level, which requires a minimum of 40 points. The goals of the project were to provide a site plan that took advantage of the spaces views of the location while ascertaining the needs of the end users.
Assembling the Team
BC3 has arranged a team of three architects and a landscape designer who are ready to tackle this competition. One of the architects resides in Brazil and is familiar with the local culture of the site. This international and multidisciplinary group of skilled team members will work together to solve the challenges of this interesting site.
Jason Tapia AIA, LEED AP, NCARB is a registered architect in Florida and New York. He earned a B. Arch at Cornell University and an M.S. in Architecture Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been practicing architecture for thirteen years and is a Principal at Building Center No. 3, LLC. Areas of expertise include the design of buildings using life cycle assessment tools, building performance modeling and passive design strategies. He currently resides in Miami, FL.
Deborah Buelow LEED AP has eight years of experience practicing architecture New York and Boston. She earned her B.Arch from Iowa State University and an M.S. in Architecture Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a focus on Architecture and Urbanism. Her projects have ranged in scale from furniture to urban design, but her interest lies in making urban space more habitable. She currently resides and is practicing in Boston, MA.
Sergio Augusto Faroni is a registered architect and a civil engineer with a degree from FAAP – Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado – Sao Paulo – Brazil. Sergio is currently working in the city of Sao Paulo and is the principal/owner of Faroni Paisagismo Ltda. He works with landscape and sustainability projects internationally.
Anaclaudia Magalhaes is a landscape designer who completed her studies at Florida International University. She earned her Associates in Arts in the discipline of architecture at Miami Dade College. She is originally from Brazil but has resided in Miami, FL for the past 10 years. Her academic work focus includes investigating context-driven concept solutions fostering community and environment. She currently works at Building Center No.3.
Research-Based Concept
Our research of the site revealed the opportunity for the project to serve as a civic as well as a recreational space. The Praça da Cultura project starts to explore the design of spaces that are flexible and unique to the context of the city of Penedo while also enhancing civic pride and possibly becoming a tourist attraction. The concept idea consisted of a linkage element that interconnects the project””s programmatic zones physically and visually. This linkage element also organizes these zones in a ritual path from the North to the South side which are separated by the pedestrian axis. The programmatic zones become expressed by motifs that repeat itself throughout the site. The ideas are rolling and Praça da Cultura will soon start developing its shape.
-PSB
Sustainable Design in Miami
