Rio de Janeiro already has its iconic Corcovado and Christ the Redeemer Statue that overlooks the city, but if a group of Swiss architects had its way, the city would add another before the 2016 Olympic Games—one that would signal the move to a zero-carbon economy.
RAFAA entered a proposed building into a 2009 competition that would rethink our approach towards architecture.
Solar City Tower would take produce solar energy during the day, and excessive energy would pump seawater for turbine-generated electricity at night. Plenty of space would exist, including room for an amphitheater as well as shops and restaurants.
According to one of the architects with whom I emailed, RAFAA has contacted the organizers of the 2016 Games, but have not heard back from anyone in Rio. The design is still in the early stage and has some technical issues—and a solid cost estimation of the project has not yet come to fruition.
The design is impressive. With six years until the Olympics, should the Brazilians go for it? They
built a capital city in the jungle 50 years ago—in some ways this would be a far easier and less ambitious project. Or is this just a set of great architectural drawings?
