Victor Delaqua holds a Master's degree from FAUUSP (São Paulo). He is an architect and urban planner from UFSC (Florianópolis) and studied at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. A contributor to ArchDaily since 2012, he is a Content and Community & Social Media editor. Professionally, he also works in exhibition and set design.
Established by master plans, zoning indexes consist of a set of regulations that govern building dimensions relative to the lot on which they are built. These requirements vary according to the zone in which the land is located and are divided into three main principles: Lot Coverage, Floor Area Ratio (FAR), and Permeability Rate. Learn what each one means and how to calculate them below.
The centennial celebrations of the Modern Art Week have already begun. Over the past week, articles and press coverage on the subject have filled various media outlets. After all, one hundred years ago, a group of artists gathered in pursuit of an art that looked to the future and stood against the past, proposing a new way of exploring Brazilian identity in music, poetry, painting, and dance. To understand how the event shaped new directions in Brazilian culture and remains relevant today, we have compiled a guide to several spaces that celebrate the Week of '22!
Considering focal points, biomes, and resting spaces, creating rhythm alongside architecture, and facilitating the maintenance and enjoyment of spaces are just some of the challenges of landscape design. Today, rather than serving merely as an element of spatial composition, the relationship between landscape architecture and the built environment is increasingly valued as we understand how the presence of nature benefits the health and comfort of humans and other species. Consequently, thinking about and designing the landscape has become an increasingly complex and valued endeavor.
Gloria Cabral was born in the heart of São Paulo and grew up in Paraguay—where she studied at the Colégio Experimental Paraguai Brasil, designed by Affonso Eduardo Reidy. Since then, she has established herself as an architect whose practice transcends borders. With numerous international honors to her name and currently based in Guarda do Embaú, Santa Catarina, she has championed horizontal, collaborative processes that demonstrate the power of the collective in shaping the built environment.
Academia has much to contribute to the fields of architecture and urbanism. Inspiring visions emerge through its research and proposals, sparking critical debates on how we perceive, occupy, and design the built environment. With this in mind, we hold an annual call for final graduation projects open to all Portuguese-speaking countries to showcase a panorama of themes and projects that we believe stood out over the past year.
While typical floor plans tend to prevail in residential buildings, no two apartments are ever truly identical. Designing the interiors of these spaces requires much more than simply decorating a layout previously conceived by another architect. Among the many challenges of these projects are reconfiguring the structure to expand spaces, enhancing natural light, creating spatial permeability, and introducing decorative or landscaping elements that reflect the residents' personalities. In 2023, numerous projects showcased inspiring apartments. To provide a representative overview, we compiled the Brazilian apartments that were most visited by the ArchDaily Brasil audience over the past year.
Designing a limited space like an apartment can be a genuine challenge. Creating new layouts and projects over what has already been imagined by someone else is an exercise that demands a keen eye and respect for the existing structure. In addition to this, there is the need to bring character to the space through interior design without overlooking spatial functionality, ensuring the best possible quality of life for its residents.
Renovations can often be a major headache. To avoid this, thorough planning and investing time in a comprehensive project are essential to ensure that every stage is executed on time and, most importantly, within budget. With this in mind, here are some tips and key elements to consider before embarking on a basic kitchen renovation.
An architectural project goes far beyond final plans, stunning renderings, or physical models. It progresses through several phases that generate a comprehensive set of documents—including technical drawings, written reports, and various other forms of representation—covering everything from conceptualization to construction. More than just a methodology, these stages are governed by standards, with NBR 13532 (Preparation of Building Projects - Architecture) serving as the foundation for the necessary conditions of architectural design development.
National School Day was celebrated yesterday, March 15, an important date to remember and value the role of educational institutions. Spaces that foster new perspectives, knowledge, exchanges, interaction, and play must be designed to rise to the challenge. While we have previously highlighted fifteen projects designed by Brazilian architects, today we take the opportunity to showcase some of the solutions and techniques adopted in recent years when approaching this program.
Today is World Water Day, established in 1992 by the United Nations (UN) to broaden discussions surrounding this resource. As drinking water becomes increasingly valuable, we present three architectural design alternatives to save and make better use of water in your home.
Pingado, carioca, espresso, drip, americano, cappuccino. Unlike in architecture, in this case, form is the least important factor when it comes to declaring a passion for coffee. A loyal companion since the college days of pulling all-nighters, and one that continues to accompany the daily creative process throughout the careers of many architects, this traditional beverage holds a special place in the profession and deserves to be celebrated. Today, March 14, is World Coffee Day. To celebrate, we feature a selection of projects where this sensory-awakening ingredient takes center stage.
Reclaiming ancestral techniques and materials to forge new spaces of coexistence. This is the guiding principle born from a desire to "create openings for freedom, joy, love, and empowering affects, which propose to rethink ways of inhabiting in harmony with the Earth and ancestry." It is a concept materialized—and still under construction—at Terra Afefé: a micro-city in Ibicoara, in Bahia's Chapada Diamantina region, created by artist Rose Afefé.
Terra. A term used to define the planet we live on, the soil we walk on, and the raw material for the most diverse works. From it derives the word territory, which, beyond its symbolic meaning in shaping culture and worldviews, is also the foundation of any settlement and of nature itself. The power of all the meanings this word carries is taken as the title of the 6th Lisbon Architecture Triennale, which explores themes concerning the human relationship with its context and the revolutionary processes spanning the most diverse scales of architecture.
To transcend the idea of progressive, linear, Western time. To create strategies for bypassing, crossing boundaries, and escaping the impossibilities imposed by the world. Attentive to the "politics of movement and political movements intertwined in artistic expressions," the 35th Bienal de São Paulo - choreographies of the impossible presents, through spatial intervention and its list of participants, ways of relating that expand the cultural and social aspects defining the seemingly insurmountable crisis we face as a society.
To delve deeper into how spatial, territorial, and architectural issues unfold in this upcoming edition of one of the world's largest and most important art exhibitions, we spoke with the curatorial collective* comprising Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes, and Manuel Borja-Villel.
Color hues play an important role in the thermal comfort of buildings, influencing the absorption, reflection, and emission of thermal energy. Alongside the analysis of the local climate, solar orientation, and the qualities of construction materials, it is possible to design an integrated approach based on surface coatings that even helps save on utility bills. Learn how these variables can be combined to leverage color for the thermal performance of your project.
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Last year, the samba school Unidos da Tijuca announced the theme for its 2020 parade at the Marquês de Sapucaí: "Architecture and Urbanism." The choice was inspired by the unprecedented title Rio de Janeiro received from UNESCO as the World Capital of Architecture, as well as the city's selection to host the World Congress of Architects—an event organized by the International Union of Architects (UIA) that is expected to draw around 15,000 professionals this July. In addition to honoring architects and urban planners, the school will bring critical issues facing the field to the parade, such as the right to the city, the construction industry's role in the climate crisis, heritage preservation, and even ancestral architectural knowledge.
Stairs often become a fundamental element of a project. Beyond resolving vertical circulation, they can take on a sculptural role within the space and serve other functions, such as creating seating areas, bringing necessary light to other levels, acting as storage, and offering new perspectives of the architecture itself as one moves through it. Since addressing this component is not always an easy task—often requiring creative solutions balanced with user safety—we have selected 15 staircases designed by Brazilian architects to serve as inspiration for your next project.
