by ArchitectureWeek

A 1918 building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has been transformed into a museum for that most modern and fast-changing of technologies: telecommunications. The building's various facades reflect both its historic roots and its modern purpose. This makeover for Rio's Telecommunications Museum appropriately reflects the remarkable evolution of technology over the past century.

The remodeled building for the Instituto Telemar is a dialog between new and old in three parts. The old section of the building maintains its original facade and character. The new section is blazingly modern with zinc-titanium cladding and an angled floor plan. And the space in between has been carefully crafted to create a harmony between the disparate parts.

The architects, Oficina de Arquitetos, describe the new museum's design as the superposition of two grids. One is formed by the orthogonally rigid structure of the older building and the second by angled lines that are meant to represent the communication lines between the various regions of Brazil.

In creating this hybrid, much of the old construction was removed, but the main (north) facade, the existing structure, the interior materials were preserved, along with the original volumes in the north half of the building. The southern half of the building is all new construction.   >>>

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The Telecommunications Museum by Oficina de Arquitetos, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, maintains its historic north facade. Photo: Alexandre Lobo The glazed main entry on the west elevation is a hinge between old and new construction. Image: Oficina Arquitetos   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.