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Are there more homes without people than people without homes? This recurring claim had already been described as a “myth” by urban planner Nabil Bonduki in 2018, but the persistent suggestion of a simplistic formula for solving the housing crisis deserves to be addressed once again. Recently, an article in Folha de São Paulo by urban planner Alexandre Benoit suggested that the approximately 300,000 vacant properties in São Paulo could be designated to “eradicate the city’s housing deficit.”

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Marcelo Ferraz, founding partner—alongside Francisco Fanucci—of Brasil Arquitetura, an office that has garnered numerous national and international awards in recognition of projects that are deeply sensitive to their site, yet essentially contemporary, is this week's guest on Arquicast.

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Known for projects situated at the intersection of research, design, biomimicry, and sustainability, Atelier Marko Brajovic recently developed a proposal for the Amazon Creative Laboratories, a series of biospheres composed of geodesic structures inspired by the internal geometry of the cacao fruit. The project aligns with the premises and goals of the Amazon 4.0 initiative, which aims to combine the economic potential of Amazonian socio-biodiversity with the new technologies and opportunities emerging from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

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With over 56 million inhabitants spread across nine states, Brazil's Northeast region features a coastline of approximately three thousand kilometers, stretching from the Parnaíba Delta in Piauí to the south of Bahia. Internationally renowned for its beaches—which truly live up to their reputation—the region is as culturally diverse as it is geographically vast, showcasing rich cultural expressions, of which architecture is an integral part.

In this article, we celebrate the most ubiquitous of architectural typologies—the house—through examples built in the states of Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe. These projects demonstrate exquisite care regarding their surroundings and material choices, while also defying stereotypes and clichés often associated with architecture in northeastern Brazil. 

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In 2019, to mark its founding anniversary, Belo Horizonte received a gift in the form of an architectural competition. The national contest sought preliminary technical studies for the requalification of the historic and landscape heritage of Bernardo Monteiro Avenue. 

This heritage site, characterized by a dense grove of large, leafy Ficus trees, was affected by infestations of the so-called "ficus whitefly." This caused defoliation and dried branches, severely compromising many of the trees, damaging the area's historical-cultural identity and public character, and forcing the relocation of the craft, flower, food, and antique markets that once operated there.

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Talking to the Louisiana Channel, iconic Japanese architect Kengo Kuma discusses the many influences that have shaped his work - and also delves into the impact that the ongoing pandemic has had on the architectural field. In the interview, Kuma describes how influential his early upbringing was to his architectural career. Growing up in a small wooden house in the 1950s - originally built in 1942, would go on to guide his architectural perchance of using wood in his projects. Kuma also mentions Japanese architect Kenzu Tange as a key inspiration and cites Tange's Yoyogi National Gymnasium - constructed for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo - as a project that would influence him towards an architectural career.

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In many ways, observing rural areas and their communities can offer valuable lessons for implementing sustainable dynamics in cities. By studying ecovillages specifically, key aspects of the relationship between humans and the biosphere become clear—particularly in a space of central importance to all of them: the kitchen.

In Western capitalist culture, the dichotomy between nature and humanity is stark. Humans shape their identity as something external to nature, and more often than not, superior to it. As a result of this conceptual rupture, spatial divides also emerge. The city is seen as a human product, where residents must seek out remnants of nature in parks or plazas to connect with it. "Voids" of human occupation, such as forests, are viewed as gaps—spaces that humanity has yet to transform.