The recent budget cuts for federal universities have reignited a debate that deserves to remain permanently active: the quality of education in Brazil. The first edition of the Encontros de Arquitetura, organized by IABsp, set out to address this theme through the lens of architecture, bringing together four professionals with extensive experience in school design: Catherine Otondo, Marina Grinover (Base Urbana), Keila Costa (+K), and Pablo Hereñú (Hereñú & Ferroni Arquitetos).
Moderated by Avany Ferreira, project manager at the Foundation for Educational Development (FDE) of the State Government of São Paulo, and Julianne Bellot, architect, professor, and researcher specializing in educational architecture, the architects presented completed and ongoing public and private school projects, which served as the foundation for a debate subsequently opened to public participation.
Moving beyond the established dichotomy between public and private education, the featured projects address the same theme—pedagogical space—from diverse socio-geographic contexts and using strategies that are not as disparate as one might expect. The school as a mediator of scales, bridging the city and the building, was a recurring theme in the presented works.
