Brito.Rodriguez awarded with an Honorable Mention in USA

Our partners Brito.Rodriguez were awarded with an Honorable Mention in an international competition for a project located in Michigan, USA. The competition was looking for new visions for a former public museum. Brito.Rodriguez sent us some content about this project, which we are proud to publish today. Congratulations to our partners, and keep up the good work!

 

"THE PROPOSAL TAKES ON A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETATION OF THE BUILDING BY ENHANCING THE EXISTING SPATIAL COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS FOUND WITHIN. _ A RELATIONSHIP IS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN THE EXHIBITION SPACES, TRANSFORMING THEM INTO AN EXPERIENCE OF SPATIAL FORM AND MOVEMENT.

PERMEABLE LIMITS CONSISTING OF VERTICAL STEEL ELEMENTS ENCLOSE THE MAIN SPACE TO CREATE A NATURAL PROGRESSION THAT ACCENTUATE THE DEPTH AND SPATIAL CONTINUITY ACROSS THE EXHIBITION SPACES, ENHANCING THE VISUAL AND PHYSICAL OPACITIES AND TRANSPARENCIES. THE EXISTING BUILDING IS A VOLUME OF INHERENT CLARITY AND SUBDUED MONUMENTALITY LOCATED BETWEEN AN URBAN AND RESIDENTIAL CONTEXT WITHIN A TERRITORY THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED ALONG THE GRAND RIVER AND IS FLANKED BY HIGHLY DENSE RESIDENTIAL AREAS ON OPPOSING SIDES. _THE INTERVENTION CLARIFIES AND STRENGTHENS THE READING OF THE EXISTING BUILDING AND ITS HISTORY BY PROVIDING SPECIFIC MEANING TO

NEWER FUNCTIONS AND PROGRAMMATIC NEEDS FOR THE CITY AND COMMUNITY."

- Brito.Rodriguez 

Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan USA
Area: 2790 m2
Date: 2013
Collaborators: Dorota Tokarska, Karol Skalski

 

Brito.Rodriguez is focused on designing cultural buildings, public environments and private houses.

The studio arises from the need to deepen their interests, concepts and ideas related to architecture, art and landscape; a natural journey that is marked by the participation in numerous international competitions.  From different cultural backgrounds, Inês Martins de Brito (Lisbon) and Gilberto Rodriguez (Texas) have over the years absorbed different influences that complement one another.  From Lisbon, the studio absorbs the history, materiality, overlapping elements, light and water.  From Texas, they receive the influence of the void, subtlety, anonymous architecture integrated into the landscape and the horizontality of spatial continuity.

Inês and Gilberto are both architects with a strong international background, their professional paths crossed in Olot, Spain while working at the office of RCR Arquitectes.  Their work has received international recognition with projects awarded in Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Spain. The studio has also been widely published and exhibited in England, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Peru.

Amongst the awarded and published works are the Site Museum, Castle Environment, Lodge Museum, Casa MB and Earth Pavilion. In 2012, Brito.Rodriguez were guest lecturers of ‘Subtle Gestures’ at the “Sapienza” Università di Rome, Italy and were soon selected by the renown publication Wallpaper* for the Architects Directory _ 20 young emerging international architectural practices.

Currently working in Lisboa, they collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team that varies in size relating to the scale and complexity of each project.  During the development of a project, they focus on the concepts inherent to the identity of a space while interpreting the specific context and conditions of the environment. With a conceptual vision and rigorous approach, the goal is to reach an integrated expression between architecture and landscape.