ULMA ventilated facade installed on the Río de Janeiro “Museum of Image and Sound | MIS” — ULMA Begira
Ulma Architectural Solutions

ULMA ventilated facade installed on the Río de Janeiro “Museum of Image and Sound | MIS”

ULMA Architectural Solutions has successfully addressed a very special project in which its capabilities have been tested to the limit. It is an important project where the level of personalisation and the adaptations made at all levels have been the most demanding.
ULMA ventilated facade installed on the Río de Janeiro “Museum of Image and Sound | MIS”
Apr 08, 2016

The capacity for adaptation to the different requirements of the project, which characterises ULMA, has been essential in the success of this project:

The manufacture and installation of 2,300 m2 of the western facade of the new Río de Janeiro Museum of Image and Sound (MIS/RJ), which, with a composition of more than 100,000 sheets of polymer concrete, has created a facade with a kinetic effect that reveals the face of Carmen Miranda.

With the inauguration planned for this year, on the Copacabana Beach, the new headquarters of the MIS/RJ will feature the signature of the New York studio awarded, internationally known as Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The Brazilian architecture studio entrusted the execution and development to Indio da Costa AUDT.

In honour of Portuguese/Brazilian singer and actress Carmen Miranda, the western facade projects a three-dimensional mural of her face which, in its geometry, scale and diversity of tones, enables the public, depending on their location, to see either the eyes or the smile of the artist.

To meet the high level of personalisation required by this proposal, the CreAktive range was used, which enables personalised manufacture of more than 100,000 sheets of 15 x 15 in eight tones of grey. Each of the panels is an independent pixel, which enables the formation of different images, subtly changing the colours of each piece.

“One of ULMA’s advantages, in comparison with other manufacturers, is that it can manipulate digital files with the aim of directly converting between the digital image provided by the architects and the manufacture and physical mapping of the modular elements”, said the owner of the studio Indio da Costa AUDT.

“The extensive range of colours was a very important factor, because the mural art is made up of black and white images, and requires a gradual and consistent relationship between the tones” revealed Indio da Costa.

Another advantage is having scoring for the Leed certification, which guarantees better thermal installation and greater energy savings.