Robert Gibbins, Roberto Miranda de Lima and Carlos Mateos
Autonomy Investimentos
A gift. This is the best word to describe what Autonomy Investimentos found at the old Moinho Fluminense mill, completing its acquisition in 2019. And this is the gift that this property investment firm intends to offer the City of Rio de Janeiro during the next few years, as we work towards completing a retrofit of one of Brazil’s most unusual historical and industrial legacies.
One of the gifts included in this package, this book tells the story behind the meeting. A meeting among business executives looking ahead to the future and a gem preserving some of the past glories of Rio and Brazil. Travelling back through history to the earliest days of this colonial settlement, clustered largely around what is today the Docklands, its pages show how the city expanded out from its port over the centuries. And today, this is where the city’s urban renaissance is blossoming.
This provides the necessary backdrop that adds depth to the legacy built up around this Mill. The first industrial flour mill in Brazil, it is today a heritage site listed by the Rio World Heritage Institute (IRPH – Instituto Rio Patrimônio da Humanidade). Projecting these memories, this book sets the tone that will steer the retrofit of the four blocks covered by this Mill and install silos: a place where the past, present and future thrive together in harmony.
Built by second-generation immigrants from Italy born in neighboring Uruguay, this Mill was presented to the people of Rio de Janeiro and the rest of Brazil by brothers Carlos and Leopoldo Gianelli in 1887. Issued with an operating license by Princess Isabel, it is located between the Cais do Valongo wharf – the gateway for thousands of enslaved Africans during the XIX century – and Brazil’s first favela slum, sprawling over the slopes of the Morro da Providência Hill.
A witness to the development of the City of Rio de Janeiro and a powerhouse driving its progress, this Mill was the stage for major events in the history of Brazil, including the Fleet Uprising and the Vaccine Revolt. Until mid-2016, it continued to produce tons of flour that supplied a nation gradually replacing ground manioc with wheat.
A mill is synonymous with transformation and movement, and this is how Autonomy Investimentos views its ventures, because transformation is deep in our DNA: we transform investments into cities that are better places to live. And this is what we intend to do in the area surrounding this Mill: vigorous but respectful changes that benefit the city and everyone who lives, works and moves through its streets. So when purchasing this Mill and launching this book, we are accepting a set of commitments.
Initially, a commitment to preserve history. This book plunges deep into the memories of this iconic part of Rio de Janeiro, showing how important it has always been for the city. This was the port that shipped out sugar and then ores, metals and gemstones from the heartlands of Brazil, spurring the growth of the City of Rio de Janeiro in terms of both population and power.
These were the shores where more than half a million enslaved Africans landed at the Cais do Valongo wharf, helping build a new nation. Today a World Heritage Site, this is one of the few places with records of arriving slaves. This port was also the gateway for manufactured goods shipped inland to wealthy mining towns. And this was where Portugal’s Court and Government sought refuge from Napoleon’s invading Grande Armée, making Rio de Janeiro the new capital of the Portuguese Empire.
Still today known as Little Africa, its rough terrain attracted Black practitioners of candomblé rituals, fleeing persecution in Bahia State, their white-garbed priestesses – known as tias baianas – joined by former slaves, some freed, some fugitives. This cultural melting pot was the home of Brazilian samba, among many other cultural treasures.
Towering over the old townhouses and warehouses crammed into the Rio Docklands, this Mill and its silos are more than just an industrial complex, although one of the few remaining material records of how buildings were designed and constructed during the late XIX century in Brazil.
If cities spring up along roads, the port is the inexorable link between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the rest of the world. Keenly aware of its responsibility in designing the future on premises endowed with so much historic relevance, Autonomy Investimentos is proud to accept this commitment to preserve this heritage site. Above all, we intend our interventions will not only respect its history, but will also portray its past.
Commitment to sustainability. The projects and construction work undertaken by Autonomy Investimentos comply with the highest environmental standards. This is the experience that we bring to this Mill – undoubtedly a challenging project, but already starting out with an undeniable environmental advantage. By repurposing an existing building, far less rubble and other solid wastes are produced, compared to a new building, while also avoiding the use of new natural resources. Based on this idea, we plan to work towards Lead certification for retrofitting a listed industrial building. It's a daring concept. But it’s real. And it’s seamlessly aligned with the goals and targets of Autonomy Investimentos.
Commitment to neighborhoods. This Mill allows us to serve as a development vector for the entire surrounding region, within the Porto Maravilha Docklands upgrade project. Always an important part of the city, this area got a new look (and fresh investments) from 2009 onwards, when the Urban Consortium Operation was launched for the Rio Docklands, underpinning proposals for the economic and social revitalization of an area measuring five million square meters. Undoubtedly one of the key property development areas in the city, the Gamboa district welcomed a string of office towers, as well as tourism and cultural attractions, interspersed with sweeping urban interventions. Slotting smoothly into this trend, the Mill will offer workspaces and experiences for companies eager to transform their corporate cultures. Having the chance to revamp a XIX century property today is a fantastic opportunity. Contributing to the development of the entire Rio de Janeiro Docklands is a dream that we are helping to make true.
Commitment to people. This means everyone who has lived and worked in these neighborhoods for so many decades, ensuring the preservation of the city’s African heritage, as well as tourists flocking to this region in search of entertainment, history, natural beauty and the charm of the old buildings typical of Gamboa streets. The aim of Autonomy Investimentos is to reintegrate this Mill with the local culture and the society around it, understanding its expressions and needs. We want people to be part of this space, not feeling like outsiders in there. In order to build up this feeling of belonging, we are already reaching out to the local community. This is why we are getting involved in projects underway there, like initiatives helping poverty-stricken children in the fields of culture, art and nutrition. We are already opening up discussions with the community on building this future together.
These are the commitments steering our efforts. The most innovative approach brought to this project by Autonomy Investimentos is the sustainability of the community, through non-stop dialogs. As indicated by the word itself, dialog indicates an exchange. And this is where our history blends into the history of this Mill: we began our project by respecting this above all other factors. Because the role of Autonomy Investimentos is to position its investments on the cutting edge of sustainability. But true sustainability lies in community sustainability.
When we began, we were lucky enough to meet some people in the community, who were eager to talk. They told us about their challenges and views of the enterprises being built there. They allowed us to learn, and all those conversations helped us to think about the development of this project, reflecting on what we could add to its concept that would make it unique, fostering the creative spirit that is an inherent asset of Brazil. And this project is sufficiently large – in physical size as well as cultural impacts – for us all to usher in these long-hoped-for transformations.
So what do we think lies ahead for this region during the next few years? What do we see when we look into the future for this large and important area that we acquired, and that we are so eager to care for?
We see a multiple, flexible facility where people, companies, cultures and communities come together in harmony. We see professional people leaving their work-places and popping into an art exhibition next door, which opens onto a bookshop or garden. We see movement. We glimpse significant experiences happening in these places.
While on the one hand we have the actual development of the complex, which will start with the buildings closest to the sea, on the other there are all the artistic and cultural performances that we are welcoming, really bringing the entire property back to life. There’s no denying that Brazil has a very rich culture. And we want the Mill to reflect this. One way of doing so is to bring in crafters, artists and entrepreneurs, giving them stronger voices. Part of the project must definitely be designed and developed in ways that endow them with the visibility they need. This is good for the community and the complex too, as well as for businesses moving into these premises.
We are preserving machinery dating back to the XIX and XX centuries, ensuring that it remains part of the identity of this new facility, while heightening awareness of how art can interact with the community. These are the kind of actions that set the tone for how we are thinking about the Mill, through real diversity in the arts and many different types of experiences and activities. So our main contribution will consist of establishing a place that gathers together all this multiplicity, a welcoming space that fosters the creative spirit of this community.
Community sustainability is undoubtedly an expression that reflects how we view our investments. This does not involve merely putting up an apartment block or an office tower, and letting the consequences fall at random. Instead, we channel investments that produce real transformations and with ample benefits for everyone involved.
Launching this book spotlights the present even more, as well as what this Mill represents for Autonomy Investimentos. This project stretches our skills, while also allowing us to firm up our foundations, strengthening our beliefs and helping achieve our goal of showing that investments can be turned into cities that are great places to live, developing a business and engaging the population. We hope that the painstaking research presented to readers through this book portrays the Mill and the ways in which cities are living beings, shaped throughout history by visionary people and their transformations.
CREDITS
Realization
Autonomy Investimentos
Editing and Production
Automatica Edições
Editorial Coordination
Luiza Mello | Automatica
Marisa S. Mello | Automatica
Caroline Bertoldi | Autonomy
Texts
Augusto Ivan de Freitas Pinheiro
Eliane Canedo
Maria Pace Chiavari
Piedade Grinberg
Research and cooperation for “The city and the port”
Cristiane Titoneli
Research and cooperation for “introduction”
Lígia Helena Micas
Rodrigo Magalhães
Photo-essay of the Moinho Fluminense Mill
Mauricio Hora
Graphic Design and Layout
Radiográfico
Image Research
Marisa S. Mello | Automatica
Emily Cardoso
Production Assistant
Ana Pimenta | Automatica
Revision
Duda Costa
Translation into English
Marília Rebello & Associados Ltda.
Image Scanning
GFK Comunicação
Image Treatment and Printing
Ipsis
Photographic and document collections
Arquivo da Marinha | DPHDM – Marinha do Brasil
Acervo do Jornal O Globo | Agência O Globo
Acervos dos Museus Castro Maya| IBRAM
Casa Geyer – Museu Imperial| IBRAM
Centro de Memória Bunge
Instituto Moreira Salles
Museu da Imagem e do Som
Portal Augusto Malta. Coleção Prefeitura do Distrito Federal | Arquivo Geral da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro
Reminiscências Pesquisa e Produção Cultural
Fundação Bunge | Centro de Memória Bunge
Thanks
Arquivo da Marinha | DPHDM – Marinha do Brasil
Acervos dos Museus Castro Maya| IBRAM
Arquivo Geral da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro
Casa Geyer – Museu Imperial| IBRAM
Fundação Bunge | Centro de Memória Bunge
AUTHORS
Augusto Ivan de Freitas Pinheiro
An architect and urban planner with a graduate degree in Urban Regional Planning from the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) and the Institute for Housing Studies in Rotterdam, he was the Coordinator of the Cultural Corridor upgrade project in Downtown Rio de Janeiro. A former Urban Planning Secretary for the City of Rio de Janeiro, he also lectured in Urban Planning at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC), and chaired the Rio World Heritage Site Institute. He has authored several books, essays and articles on the City of Rio de Janeiro.
Eliane Canedo de Freitas Pinheiro
An architect and urban planner with a graduate degree in Urban Regional Planning from the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) and the Institute for Housing Studies in Rotterdam, she is a former Under-Secretary of State for the Environment and was an environmental analyst with the State Environment Foundation. A consultant with the Urban Research Center at the Brazilian Municipal Administration Institute (IBAM), she has authored several books, essays and articles on the City of Rio de Janeiro.
Cristiane Titoneli
With a Law degree from the Ouro Preto Federal University, she completed her graduate studies in Constitutional Civil Law at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), and is studying for a graduate degree in Urban and Environmental Law at the Pontifical Catholic University in Minas Gerais State (PUC/MG). An adviser with the Federal Regional Court – II Region, she is also a contributing researcher to a book portraying the Guanabara Bay, and co-authored a book on the Leblon district, both published by Andrea Jakobssen Estúdio.
Maria Pace Chiavari
With a degree in Architecture from the Università degli Studi di Firenze and a doctorate in Urban Planning from the Graduate Urban Studies Program, Rio de Janeiro Federal University (PROURB/UFRJ), she is an Honorary Citizen of Rio de Janeiro. As researcher, her studies focus on the development of the city of Rio de Janeiro during the XIX and early XX centuries, the protection of its heritage assets, and the presence of Italians in Brazil. She has contributed to many publications, particularly books, catalogues and magazines, and authored the book entitled Rio de Janeiro. Preservação e Modernidade. At the moment, she is exploring the role of ‘public photography’ during the early days of urban planning in Rio de Janeiro.
Piedade Epstein Grinberg
With a graduate degree in the History of Modern Architecture in Brazil from the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ) and a Master’s degree in Art History and Critique from the Fine Arts School, Rio de Janeiro Federal University (EBA-UFRJ), she taught Art History in the Architecture course at PUC-RJ (2000 – 2016), and was the Director of its University Museum in the Solar Grandjean de Montigny (1993 – 2018). Having published several chapters in books, magazines and exhibition catalogues, she has also written several books, including: Bruno Giorgi 1905-1993”; Di Cavalcanti: um mestre além do Cavalete; and Sergio Camargo, construtor de ideias. As a researcher and curator, she specializes in topics such as art, artists and architecture, focused particularly on the XIX, XX, and XXI centuries.