Rio's Museum of Tomorrow awarded in France

The Museum of Tomorrow, in Rio de Janeiro, won the international MIPIM (International Market of Property Professionals) award for Most Innovative Green Building, beating out competitors in the UK, Sweden, and Germany. The result was announced in Cannes, France.

The museum was conceived by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava as part of the recovery project of Rio de Janeiro's port area. With a space of 15 thousand m², the musuem is surrounded by pools, gardens, bike paths, and a recreation area, in a space 34.6 thousand-m² in Píer Mauá. The landscaping is signed by Burle Marx.

In the view of museum director Ricardo Piquet, the award is the acknowledgment of the connection between the content of the Museum of Tomorrow, which deals with “the sustainability of the planet,” and the fact that “it's a sustainable building.”

Piquet noted that the responsibility is all the greater after the award was granted, as the systems conceived and designed for the museum must be preserved in order to ensure the building's  sustainability. Among the systems he mentioned the one bringing water from Guanabara Bay, the solar panels on the roof and the pools reducing the temperature around the museum.

Raising awareness

“Architecture and content, its spot in the urban space, and the integration with the environment—everything in this museum aims at raising awareness about how the choices made today by each one of us cause an impact on a common tomorrow,” said Hugo Barreto, Secretary-General at the Roberto Marinho Foundation, the institution in charge of the conception behind the Museum of Tomorrow.

The MIPIM Award was created in 1991. The competition selects the most noteworthy projects built or those under construction all across the world. The Museum of Tomorrow was competing with the Siemens headquarters in Munich, Germany, the 119 Ebury Street residential building, in London, and the Värtan Bioenergy factory, in Stockholm.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira