"Kéré Architecture has unveiled its proposal for the 40,000-square-meter Biblioteca dos Saberes (House of Wisdom) in Rio de Janeiro's Cidade Nova neighborhood. Designed by Francis Kéré, Mariona Maeso Deitg, and Juan Carlos Zapata, the cultural complex is commissioned by the Rio de Janeiro City Hall and planned for a site near Valongo Wharf and the Little Africa area. The design was presented to members of the community on November 20, the National Day of Zumbi and Black Consciousness in Brazil."
"Central to the proposal is the cylindrical "tree of knowledge," inspired by native trees of the Tijuca Forest and evoking the communal role of trees in Kéré's hometown of Gando, Burkina Faso. This vertical structure connects the library's three levels, which would accommodate reading rooms, stacks, workshops, exhibition spaces, an auditorium, and a café. The program follows a progression from quiet to lively: reading, sharing, gathering, performing, making, eating, and playing, supporting a wide range of community uses within the historic district."
Kéré Architecture's design for a 40,000-square-meter Biblioteca dos Saberes occupies Cidade Nova, Rio de Janeiro, adjacent to Valongo Wharf and Little Africa. Designed by Francis Kéré and collaborators and commissioned by Rio City Hall, the complex includes a perforated façade, roof gardens, landscaped terraces, shaded courtyards, open-air areas, a canopied amphitheater, and a pedestrian bridge to the Zumbi dos Palmares monument. A central cylindrical 'tree of knowledge' links three levels housing reading rooms, stacks, workshops, exhibition spaces, an auditorium, and a café. Programming moves from quiet to lively—reading to playing—and celebrates Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian heritage, oral traditions, and samba, reframing the Atlantic as a shared cultural river.
Read at ArchDaily
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