The Cabo Frio Cultural

2nd Place – National Architecture Competition

The Cabo Frio Cultural, Events, and Exhibition Center took the form of a modeled landscape that respects the residential scale of the place and creates an essentially public urbanized external plaza (which will host medium-sized events, with the possibility of using ephemeral coverings) as an extension of the urban public space. The implementation of the CCEE sought a subtle way to create a new public and collective space without, however, mischaracterizing it as a private commercial structure.

The program was organized into two perpendicular volumes forming the plaza, designed from the launch of the main circulation axes, distinguished from the plaza’s design as wooden decks. The first and most important of these decks, aligned with one of the residential streets, connects the Avenue to the Araruama Lagoon, crossing the land and a 35-meter free span below a suspended metallic building, positioned at the front of the lot, parallel to the Avenue, which houses the fair space for 1,500 people. Perpendicular to the pavilion, another building was implemented for conventions, with the auditorium being the main element highlighted in the landscape, and its stage opens to the deck and the plaza, allowing its use for external and open events.

The large circulation deck connects the main public transport points: the Avenue and the Lagoon, which will provide waterway transport in the future, highlighting the intention of making the CCEE accessible to the city. The other axes, in turn, connect to the large wooden deck perpendicularly, enabling crosswise flows. One deck allows circulation flows more directed towards the functioning of the CCEE, while the other proposes a bucolic path along the Lagoon’s edge. The idea of this deck, specifically, despite adhering to the lot’s limit, could extend indefinitely, creating a kind of “waterfront project” that could, for example, lead users to the Dormitório das Garças park.