Kéré Architecture Unveils Biblioteca dos Saberes in Rio de Janeiro

Kéré Architecture has released its design for the Biblioteca dos Saberes (The House of Wisdom), a 40,000-square-meter public library and cultural center that will become a cornerstone of Rio de Janeiro’s Cidade Nova revitalization. Commissioned by the city government, the project marks the studio’s first built work in South America and its second library following the Gando Primary School Library.

At the heart of the scheme stands a vertical cylindrical volume that functions as both spatial anchor and symbolic core. Referred to as the “tree of knowledge,” the tower evokes species native to the Tijuca Forest while echoing the social role of communal trees in Francis Kéré’s home village of Gando, Burkina Faso. Around this central figure, three levels unfold as a gradation of public life, ranging from reading rooms and book stacks to workshops, galleries, an auditorium, and a café. Landscaped terraces, shaded internal courtyards, open-air circulation paths, and an outdoor amphitheater extend the building outward into the surrounding urban fabric.

Francis Kéré describes the project as a structure that grows from Rio’s cultural memory: a convergence of samba’s physical pulse and poetry’s emotional resonance. The library is conceived as a civic home for shared knowledge, welcoming the entire city beneath a single, porous canopy that connects past and future.

The building is envisioned as both climatic and social infrastructure. A perforated façade shields interior spaces from Rio’s intense sunlight, while rooftop gardens and the tall cylindrical volume reinforce passive cooling and natural ventilation. A pedestrian bridge will link the complex to the monument honoring Zumbi dos Palmares, embedding the library within a broader landscape of Afro-Brazilian history. The city’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, highlights how the project acknowledges the multiple cultural formations that have shaped Rio and reinforces its recognition as the first Portuguese-speaking UNESCO World Book Capital.

Situated on the site of the former Praça Onze, the birthplace of Brazil’s first samba school and steps away from Oscar Niemeyer’s Sambódromo, the Biblioteca dos Saberes weaves together indigenous and Afro-Brazilian traditions, oral histories, and the communal spirit of Carnival. At the same time, it reflects the global trajectory of Rio as a port city historically shaped by flows across the Atlantic.

The result is a contemporary civic landmark that reinterprets knowledge, memory, climate, and culture through architecture—an open and inclusive urban sanctuary that links Rio de Janeiro to the wider world.

Project Credits
Biblioteca dos Saberes (The House of Wisdom)
Architect: Kéré Architecture
Location: Cidade Nova, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Size: 40,000 square meters
Client: Rio de Janeiro City Hall
Lead Architect: Francis Kéré