Beyond Rio de Janeiro: the communication of foreign architecture in Barra da Tijuca

Abstract

The neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro form a symbolic cartography simultaneously confusing and productive.In this paper, we focus on the Barra da Tijuca, for it is the fastest growing neighborhood in Rio. At the same time, the architecture of Barra da Tijuca seems to deny the city’s imaginary with constructions that refer to European or North American countries. The replicas of the Eiffel Tower and of the Statue of Liberty on display in the neighborhood shopping centers reinforce the idea that the resident or visitor is in another place, beyond Rio de Janeiro. Closed condominiuns, with their names in English, French or Italian,do not reflect the values of the city either, except with regard to security – the main argument used by real estate agents in advertising and propaganda of the enterprises of the district. In Barra, urban fortresses such as shopping centers, closed condominiums and business centers proliferate. In this work we objectify to raise that advertising appeals in relation to the arguments of leisure, consumption and security, promote the continuity of the residents in closed condominiums, as well as consumers in shopping malls, and that contradictions are suggested by journalistic investigations. We are interested in showing that in the same advertising media publicity promotes Barra da Tijuca as an ideal place, complete and safe to live, while the journalistic investigations point to some of the same illnesses of the rest of the city.