A Proposal for the Sustainable Rehabilitation of the “A Noite” Building in Rio de Janeiro: A Case Study

Housing demand in urban centers throughout the 2020s may be addressed by policies that repurpose vacant buildings, such as transforming commercial use into residential. This strategy optimizes urban space, reduces resource consumption by avoiding new construction, and finds support in depopulated neighborhoods, like Rio de Janeiro’s city center post-COVID. Favorable conditions include underused existing infrastructure and regulatory incentives, as widely provided by Reviver Centro Program, instituted by Rio’s city government in 2021. Despite environmental and economic advantages, rehabilitation in Brazil hurdles due to specific constraints, leading to a lack of technical expertise in the field. Unlike conventional construction practices, rehabilitation demands constructive strategies that not only involve specific construction methods but also account for broader impacts on performance, waste generation, and logistical efficiency. This comprehensive approach ensures that the materials and execution processes specified in the project contribute to a technically viable result with satisfactory performance. This study investigates challenges and opportunities through the lens of specific construction subsystems, offering proposals to enhance execution, sustainability, and overall performance. A case study supports this analysis, focusing on the “A Noite” Building in Rio’s port zone. It involved site visits, architectural plan reviews, and interviews with the technical team. Findings show that proposed solutions align with rehabilitation needs. However, constraints remain regarding the reuse and removal of vertical enclosures and flooring systems, which depend on the demands of the new design, particularly in the hydro-sanitary network, which requires full reconfiguration.