"Carioca Wave" - A free-form steel-and-glass canopy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The elegant free-form steel-and-glass canopy covers the atrium of the redevelopment of the "CasaShopping" luxury home furnishings centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The eye-catching sculptural shape of the canopy is inspired by the ocean waves of the nearby seaside of Barra di Tijuca. The "Carioca Wave" rises out of a pool at ground level and arches over the atrium to provide a link between the shops and the main entrance at the lower level. The complex geometry of the structure places high demands on construction. The high-precision node-beam system was prefabricated in Europe in order to allow fast and simple assembly and erection on site. The free-form steel-and-glass structure - one of the first of its kind in South America - was developed in a collaborative design-and-build project between architect Nir Sivan (Rome, Italy), special contractor se-austria (Schoerfling, Austria) and Knippers Helbig advanced engineering (Stuttgart, Germany).