The Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca, RJ, was the main venue for the 2016 Olympic Games. At the time of the games, the Park's project included various sports facilities, such as the Tennis Center, the Cariocas Arenas, and the Live Site, all built around the Olympic Way, a wide pedestrian thoroughfare connecting one end of the site to the other, along with its Garden Terraces. Both were designed to accommodate crowds and meet the high demand for public attendance.
The initial project concept for the Legacy anticipated adapting all this infrastructure for new uses after the end of the Olympics. The main proposal for transformation into the Olympic Legacy was the conversion of the Olympic Way, Live Site, and Garden Terraces into a Public Park with more green areas, increased vegetation coverage, and the creation of active spaces.
The development of this new project for the Olympic Park, later renamed Parque Rita Lee in honor of the artist, was tendered by the Rio de Janeiro City Hall in 2022. Ecomimesis, the company that won the bid, was then responsible for the redevelopment of the Olympic Way and its immediate surroundings, totaling 140,000 square meters of planned area, considering the initial premises of celebrating Rio's life and culture, valuing the natural landscape of Rio de Janeiro, and transforming the space into a landmark leisure destination for the city.
The Rio-based firm proposes dividing the space into two park typologies with different characteristics that intermingle along the way, called Linear Park and Urban Park. The first considers the linear extension of the Olympic Way, connecting the park entrance via Avenida Abelardo Bueno to the Live Site on the banks of Jacarepaguá Lagoon. The second includes the areas adjacent to the way and connects the project to the arenas and neighboring lands.
The project focuses on the understanding that within the park, two distinct and complementary uses and occupations are possible and necessary:
a) Linear Park: a large, linear avenue 60 meters wide and 1.2 kilometers long with a smooth and continuous path, offering shaded areas, public restrooms, and spaces for rest and socializing. This path, connecting the park entrance to the Lagoon, involves a process of redefining and readapting the space for the benefit of users through the creation of new vegetated beds over the already constructed flooring structure with the planting of native Atlantic Forest trees, creation of rest areas with urban furniture, and meeting spaces with the Live Site.
b) Urban Park: unique and innovative, with recreation and leisure areas, furniture, equipment, and playful colorful flooring, aiming to attract users to a modern and unusual space in the city. The urban park has a strong and unique local identity compared to other parks in the city. Its flooring design sectors the spaces and uses of the area, divided into: 1. Children's area with toys for kids of different ages, 2. Sitting and meeting area with furniture and a picnic area for families, 3. Sports area encouraging sports like futmesa, table tennis, basketball, and climbing, and 4. Skate park with a variety of obstacles allowing the practice of the sport.
Overall, the proposed program includes two multi-sport courts, two 3x3 basketball courts, an event area, a children's area with various toys, a children's aquatic area, a game area (table tennis and futmesa), a picnic area, a senior fitness area, a climbing wall, a skate park, bike racks, seating areas, rest areas, and public restrooms. The program also includes urban furniture, the creation of more than 800 square meters of Atlantic Forest grove, tree planting with 1,100 new native tree seedlings, and the addition of more than 8,000 square meters of permeable green area throughout the park.
This project is part of a municipal network of green and blue spaces, aimed at repairing ecological damage inflicted by extensive urbanization since 1969. The goal is to reconnect fragmented landscapes and reestablish meaningful ecosystem interactions between local fauna and flora. The project also uses Nature-Based Solutions to promote local-scale benefits and reconnect residents with nature, encouraging awareness of the nature-biodiversity-society relationship, particularly regarding ecosystem goods and services.
The Atlantic Forest surrounding Rio de Janeiro is among the most ecologically diverse locations on the planet – 40 to 50% of its more than 25,000 species are endemic, and the City of Rio de Janeiro aims to reintroduce forests into urban spaces. Parque Rita Lee is part of this process, serving as a model for redefining urban spaces for greater integration with nature and improving public well-being through exceptional recreational areas, while also addressing climate change mitigation.
The park is developed in sectors with distinct characteristics, allowing a variety of user experiences. The proposal strengthens the relationship between humans and nature through initiatives that value the local ecosystem by using native plants and expanding green areas in a highly urbanized region. At the same time, it presents an innovative and modern design, using colors and playful equipment to attract visitors.
