One thing that has fascinated me since I arrived in Rio has been the old Portuguese architecture. When south america was founded, the Spanish and Portuguese fought over who would control what. The spanish got everything that wasn't brazil.
What is cool about the architecture here, is that it looks like a fusion between european, and mexican architecture. its like gothic/renaissance/baroque with those terracotta roofs you see in hot climate places like mexico.
As a skateboarder I am always looking at ground textures to see how they would feel to ride on. The mosaic tile-work they build to walk on are extremely visually appealing to me, making vast patterns that span huge distances.
A signature of the royal family of portugal, the "calçadão" or Portuguese pavement are kind of a crazy thing to put in brazils climate. they are slippery when wet and break up with tree roots grow underneath them.
Tons of graffiti in Rio. everywhere.
Downtown is where you will find most of the historical architecture. A lot of it is super run-down and unmaintained, but no one has money to restore them. the Laws state that you can not tear them down and build over them because they are historical, which is cool, but they all look super ghetto, which is a strange vibe.
Its such a unique look to have in a city, kind of an artists romantic dream of cutty, urban decay mixed with european royalty.
Sightseeing while walking down the sidewalk is fun because you see these visually vast scenes of makeshift organization that mirror the favela constructions, which look like piles of stuff.
Stuff like this look like something out of a Mad Max movie, which i love to feast my eyes on as an artist.
Look at this one:
I'm surprised rich tourists don't come down to brazil and buy these buildings. they are so cool looking.
I don't really know a lot about architecture history to speak on this stuff really. It's just a really interesting blend of europe and rainforest vibes.
The modern architecture that was built in the 60's has a unique vibe to it as well. It embodies the feeling of Life, is tough, but we are going to enjoy it anyway, which is the spirit of the city for sure. The people are so friendly i haven't not met a single asshole this whole time i've been here which has been going on 6 weeks.
This one caught my eye from down below and I was surprised to see it at the top of a giant hill hiking path that i walked up. it was cool to see palm trees on the top of this one.
This next one really amazed me. it is a church that was built in the style of mayan pyramid.
The sides that have the scaffolding on them are pure stained glass. I have looked up pictures on the internet of what the inside look like and i want to go inside and see for myself. When i do, i will update this post with a picture of the inside.
a lot of the buildings here have a kind of style like they just whipped them up in a 3d modeling program. you see it a lot today in the united states, and its considered "modern" where you just take a 3d rectangle and attach other rectangles to it haphazardly to make something that looks cool. But these are all old which makes the style cooler imo.
Look at the power lines. An engineers nightmare. i dont know how they manage to keep the wires organized. maybe there is no protocol or legal rules that you have to adhere to when setting these up. fascinating to me as someone from the US. it looks more handmade and human.
I will end this post on a picture of a box truck i saw the other day and just thought wow, look at it.
UPDATE!
i almost forgot to include these photos below. Highlander signed up for a helicopter ride above rio and captures these amazing photos of the city from the sky.
In hindsight I probably should have payed the $200 to fly in the helicopter with Highlander and his lady. but When he sent me the page to sign up i though the helicopter looked way too sketchy and i was scared lol. Thanks to Highlander for sending me these photos.
Look at the black and white tile-work sidewalks from way up above, You can actually see the cool abstract designs they are arranged in.
The tops of the buildings look super cool too.
