São João de Meriti is a municipality located one hour north of the city center of Rio de Janeiro, characterized by a densely self-built urban landscape, with few interruptions and few green areas. FUNBIO (Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity) in partnership with the City Hall undertook the development of a project for a new visitor center at the only Atlantic forest reserve in the municipality, Parque Jardim Jurema. The project consists of a visitor center, an administration center and two viewing platforms, which are part of an existing trail. An arrival square was added to this scope, which mediates with the area outside the park, where there is a small soccer field and leisure area. The new visitor and administration center is a compact building, which houses the new uses envisaged by the city: a small auditorium, administration, reception and accommodation for employees. All existing vegetation has been preserved, with minimal topographic movement. The design strategy for the new center takes place through four small buildings unified by a light-weight roof and connected by the natural ground, understood as a continuous and rustic natural landscape. The geometry below follows the landscape and the location of the existing vegetation. The geometry above frames this landscape with orthogonal lines. The four buildings are rectangles defined by two structural stone walls, which form an "L" to receive the roof structure. A strict opening modulation rule was followed to keep the project budget within modulations available on the market. The 4 buildings were designed with only two types of doors and two types of windows.

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