At COP30, floating plaza shifts perspective of sea-level rise | Cornell Chronicle

"Aboard Italy's floating pavilion at this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, delegates may experience a "surreal," perspective-altering encounter with the water. As they descend the sloped perimeter of the 4,300-square-foot steel platform called "AquaPraça" ("water plaza" in Portuguese), visitors will find themselves eye-level with the brackish, muddy currents of the Pará River in the Amazon Delta region, a gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, and with concerns about sea-level rise."

""Very seldom do we occupy a physical structure that invites an embodied experience of our changing climate and the resulting fluctuations in the Earth's hydrosphere," said J. Meejin Yoon , B.Arch. '95, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP). "While we often witness the impact of sea-level rise on land with flooding events or view tides, flows and levels from above, AquaPraça is a public space surrounded by and partially submerged in the water itself, creating a"

"Yoon and Eric Höweler, B.Arch. '94, M.Arch. '96, co-founders of Höweler + Yoon Architecture, designed the floating plaza in collaboration with architect Carlo Ratti of Carlo Ratti Associati. Constructed in Italy, AquaPraça was unveiled this summer at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. It will remain in Belém permanently as a gift to Brazil of novel public space - what Ratti refers to as a "civic catalyst.""

AquaPraça is a 4,300-square-foot steel floating plaza in Belém that brings visitors eye-level with the brackish, muddy currents of the Pará River in the Amazon Delta. The platform's internal "water table" bisects the public space and rises and recedes with sea levels, making tidal and flood dynamics directly legible. The project was designed by Yoon and Eric Höweler in collaboration with Carlo Ratti, constructed in Italy and unveiled at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. AquaPraça will remain in Belém permanently as a gift and a civic catalyst for public engagement with climate-driven hydrological change.

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