Invisible Brasilias: 3rd place in the Plano Piloto contest

Get to know the project of Rino Levi, Roberto Cerqueira Cesar, Luis Roberto Carvalho Franco and Paulo Fragoso

Photo of the model. Modified from Tavares (2014), p. 313.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

A city of superblocks

Masterplan. Authors’ redesign.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Masterplan with identification of residential, commercial and government sectors. Authors’ redesign.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Vertical city

The project concentrated most of the residential areas in eighteen very tall buildings. As a result, the plan occupied a small area near the lake. In addition to the large buildings, a town center and a civic center were planned, both located on the shores of the lake.

Masterplan with distance radius from residential blocks to the city center. Authors’ redesign.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

A walk

The approximate maximum distance between the residential blocks and the city center would be approximately 2 km, allowing easy access on foot. The city's main roads would be elevated highways, so that the ground would be free for pedestrians.

Masterplan showing the location of Lucio Costa’s Pilot Project. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 126.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

If we compare

the project with Lúcio Costa’s Pilot Project, we will see that the city proposed by Rino Levi would occupy the area between the Pilot Project and Paranoá Lake, where the club sectors and Vila Planalto are today.

View of a square. Authors’ rendering.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Zoom of the masterplan with location of the superblocks and houses. Authors’ redesign.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Buildings and houses

In addition to the superblocks, other buildings made up the residential scale of the project. While the center would host the superblocks of apartments, a large area on the south shore of the lake would house single-family homes.

Sketch of the set of three superblocks and commercial center. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 132.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Neighborhood units

would be composed of a set of three superblocks around a local commercial center, where services such as schools, shops, hospitals and sports courts would be located.

Sketch of the superblock with 16,000 inhabitants. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 132.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Eighteen superblocks

would house most of the city’s population.  The buildings would have one hundred floors and be 400m long. Each of them would be composed of a group of thirty-two buildings connected by elevated streets, which would contain the daily services.

Comparative sketch of Rino Levi's superblock with Lucio Costa’s block. Authors’ redesign.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Spot the difference

of scale between a superblock and a six-storey block in Brasilia, as proposed by Lúcio Costa.

View from the first floor of a superblock. Authors’ rendering.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Streets on high

The elevators would be vertical streets connecting the first floor to the commercial floors. These floors would include the daily services and access elevators to each residential building.

360° pinned view of a superblock. Modified from Tavares (2014), p. 319.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Let’s see the view

of a public square located on one of these elevated streets.

Tap to explore

360°

You are in the residential sector.

View of the commercial sector. Authors’ rendering.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Masterplan with identification of commercial, cultural and administrative sectors. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 127.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

All in the center

The city would have an urban center where ministries, municipalities, commercial buildings, hotels, cultural facilities, central market, cathedral and bus station would be located.

360° pinned photo of the urban center model. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 128.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Let's get to know

this central area, which concentrates various city facilities and services.

Tap to explore

360°

You are in the commercial sector.

View of the government sector. Authors’ rendering.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Zoom of the masterplan with location of the three powers square and the esplanade. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 126.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

The civic and government center

would be a little away from the center, on the main peninsula of the lake. There would be a large esplanade for parades and a monumental square, the site of the palaces of the three powers.

Zoom of the masterplan with location of Brasília Palace Hotel and Alvorada Palace. Modified from Braga (2010), p. 126.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

In the Three Powers Square

would be the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary palaces, integrated with the Alvorada Palace and the National Hotel, both previously allocated by the public notice of the contest.

360° pinned aerial view of the square of the three powers. Authors’ rendering.Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB

Want to take a closer look?

The Three Powers Square would be surrounded by monuments and, in the background, we would see the immense superblocks.

Tap to explore

360°

You are in the government sector.

To find out more about the contest, click here: Introduction
Get to know the other finalist projects:
 - Lucio Costa
 - Boruch Milman and team
3°/4° - Rino Levi and team
3°/4° - MM Roberto and team
 - Milton Ghiraldini and team
 - Henrique Mindlin and Giancarlo Palanti
 - Vilanova Artigas and team

Datasheet: 

Sponsorship:  Fundo de Apoio à Cultura  - FAC 
Realization:  Museu de Arte de Brasília - MAB
Authorship and Idealization: Danilo Fleury and Maíra Guimarães 
Curatorship: Danilo Fleury, Maíra Guimarães and Rogério Carvalho 
Expography:  Coarquitetos , Danilo Fleury and Maíra Guimarães 
Production: Curatorship of Cultural Projects, Leonardo Gois 
Graphic Design: Coarquitetos, Danilo Fleury and Maíra Guimarães 
Collaborators: Giovana Martins, Marcela Budó, Marcos Paulo Cruz and Lucas Patriota

Credits: Story

Bibliographic references:

BRAGA, Milton. O concurso de Brasília: sete projetos para uma capital. Museu da Casa Brasileira, 2010.
FICHER, Sylvia; BATISTA, Geraldo Nogueira; LEITÃO, Francisco; FRANÇA, Dionísio Alves de. Brasília: uma história de planejamento In RODRÍGUEZ, Eduard, e FIGUEIRA, Cibele Vieira A (Brasilia 1956 - 2006, de la fundación de una ciudad capita l al ca pital de la ciudad) Lleida: Milenio, 2006. pp. 55-97.
GUIMARÃES, Maíra Oliveira. Uma capital para um lago, um palácio e um hotel. In: VI Encontro da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo. 2020.
SILVA, Elcio Gomes da. Os palácios originais de Brasília Tese (Universidade de Brasília). Brasília, 2012.
TAVARES, Jeferson. Projetos para Brasília 1927-1957. IPHAN, 2014.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

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