Brazilian National Shooting Center, Deodoro Sports Complex - BCMF
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Categories: World Architecture
Architect/ Firm: BCMF Arquitetos_ Bruno Campos (Architect in Charge), Marcelo Fontes and Silvio Todeschi Project Team: Cláudio Parreiras Reis, Luciana Maciel, Lisiane Melo, Leonardo Fávero, Cristiano Monte-Mór, Ana Kawakami, Fabiana Fortes e Antônio Valadares Client: Federal Government (Ministry of Sports)/Brazilian Army Project: 2005-2007 Program: Shooting, Equestrian, Hockey, Archery and Modern Pentathlon venues Project Surface: 10.000.000 square feet Built Area: 1.000.000 square feet Total Construction Cost: 40.000.000 € Photo Credits: Bruno Carvalho, Kaká Ramalho, Bruno Campos, Marcelo Fontes, Silvio Todeschi
Project Description:
The Shooting Center has approximately 30.000 sq. m. of built area, landscaped on a 125.000 sq. m. site along one of the most important access vectors of the city (a hybrid of avenue and motorway). Strong horizontal lines predominate in this concrete sports complex located on a roughly trapezoidal plot in a breathtaking valley surrounded by mountain peaks. The complex has indoor and outdoor facilities such as training halls and grandstands, and features parking and service areas. The nighttime periodical pattern of lighting along the peripheral wall and on the right-angled overhead structures produces an otherworldly effect of floating in the dark valley against the backdrop of a slowly setting sun.
The main access to the public is given from Avenida Brazil, through a long and gentle slope from north to south, which connects the long axis perpendicular to the general circulation, reaching the second floor of main building. From this entrance, there are a series of shooting ranges “plugged” into this main concourse.
Besides the 10m Range - which had to be fully covered and air-conditioned - the other ranges are facesouth, in order that athletes shoot away from the sun. Thus, the main access to the public is exactly in the direction of the shots that leave the fields of play. The thick concrete walls and solid mesh of reinforced concrete covered with wood (baffles) covering the external fields are calculated to prevent any bullet to reach something on the outside.
Brazilian National Shooting Center
Concept:
The project began from a complex network of prerequisites and needs of a temporary international event. The architecture had to be capable of meeting the demands of the event and the post-event. It had to absorb the likely changes in use, be flexible, and relate to the context of the natural and urban environment.
BCMF sought to establish a formal selection that could be arranged in various ways according to the specifics of each sport and place. They wanted to unify all, respond to similar problems in a similar way, and keep the idea of a "complex" instead of five sporting facilities. As this identity was clarified and strengthened, it helped the architecture "survive" the various and inevitable interferences.
Brazilian National Shooting Center
Materials used and Why:
For reasons of logistics and speed of implementation a mixed construction system was used. Concrete cast-in-place (pillars, restraints and protective walls), precast concrete (steps and beams in the stands and slabs in general) and steel structure (roof trusses of coated tile sandwich) with non-load-bearing walls (masonry, dry-wall panels, tile, glass and glass) independent of the structure. Whenever possible the use of "finishes” and details were avoided, so that when the whole structure was completed, the architecture was also completed, parodying Niemeyer. The materials, along with the repetition of porches, eaves, roofs and sheds, provide a unit for the austere image of the five sports facilities and their support structures.
