Santiago Calatrava’s dramatic design sets new standards for sustainable architecture. But it is also a symbol of deepening socioeconomic divides
The Museu do Amanhã, or Museum of Tomorrow, finally opens its doors to the public in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. Four years in the making, the extravagant structure designed by Santiago Calatrava is set to become the centerpiece of the Porto Maravilha revitalization project. Although excitement for the museum, which is dedicated to a more sustainable and equitable future, is palpable, it also symbolizes the seismic socioeconomic shifts occurring in this historically impoverished area, once the epicenter of the slave trade in Brazil.
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The opening of the Museum of Tomorrow is certainly a cause for celebration in Rio de Janeiro. But if it is truly going to be a museum of enlightenment and innovation, it will need to specifically address its place among longstanding, fragile, and historically disenfranchised communities, such as the nearby Morro da Providência, Brazil’s first favela.
Residents in Morro da Providência complain that development decisions are made long before community outreach efforts are even begun. Rio de Janeiro is a city still coming to terms with its heritage, both in terms of the legacy of slavery and the roots of Brazil’s longstanding and growing economic inequality. Only when calls for greater social equity and participatory planning within the Porto Maravilha revitalization project are addressed will there really be a brighter tomorrow.
