Architecture News

Favela Marte, located in São José do Rio Preto, in upstate São Paulo, will be the first community in Latin America to be fully powered by solar panels. The site will serve as a model for a broad project that promises to generate income and social development for its residents. 

Known as Vila Itália, the community began to emerge in 2014. For several years, the residents were the target of lawsuits aimed at evicting them from the private land. A turning point came when the area was chosen to serve as a model for the “Favela 3D” project—standing for dignified, digital, and developed environments. 

The course Architecture and City in Brazil, taught by architect, curator, and professor Guilherme Wisnik, joins the online learning catalog of the Sesc Digital platform starting March 31. Entirely free and open, the self-paced, asynchronous course allows students to watch at their own pace.

Europe's largest research center for urban food production has opened in West Flanders, Belgium. Named Agrotopia, the space is a giant greenhouse where innovative urban horticulture techniques will be applied. 

Vegetables and fruit trees are being planted across the 6,000-square-meter cultivation area. The space is divided into four climate zones, allowing for the cultivation of diverse species. 

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The Novo Rio Pinheiros Program announced the results of actions taken by the São Paulo State Government to clean up the river since 2019. According to January data from the Secretariat of Infrastructure and Environment, there has been a significant improvement in oxygenation and a reduction in organic matter in the water. In June 2019, Governor João Doria promised to clean up the river by 2022.

Last week, we announced the 15 finalists for the 2022 Obra do Ano, an award celebrating the best of Portuguese-speaking architecture by inviting our readers to vote for their favorite projects built in Portuguese-speaking countries. The day has come to announce the winners of ODA 2022.

The 2022 Obra do Ano Award is presented by Dornbracht, an internationally renowned brand for kitchen and bathroom products.

Residents of the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium will receive up to €900 to deregister their vehicles. The initiative is part of "Bruxell’Air," a financial support program for those looking to adopt alternative modes of transportation.

At one of Bolivia's most important architecture events, a Brazilian project took home the top prize. Sesc Parque Dom Pedro II, designed by the firm UNA Arquitetos under the coordination of Fernanda Barbara and Fabio Valentim, won the International Project category of the International Architecture Biennial of Santa Cruz 2022 (VIII BASC), held between March 25 and April 3 of this year.

The seven main representative entities of Brazilian architects and urban planners, members of the Board of Architecture and Urbanism Entities (CEAU), launched the Open Letter to Candidates in the 2022 elections. Featuring 20 proposals, the document aims to address structural issues, economic and social development policies, and territorial planning in the country.

The National Congress will officially discuss the proposal for the Professional Microentrepreneur (MEP), a tax category that would reduce taxes paid by architects, urban planners, and other independent professionals. The proposal, drafted by CAU in partnership with the Board of National Entities of Architects and Urban Planners (CEAU), was introduced by Federal Deputy Érica Kokay in the Chamber of Deputies as Supplementary Bill No. 55/2022.

Portuguese architecture firm Sastudio, in partnership with Icelandic studio Hjark and the firm Landmotun, has won the international design competition for a community center in Hornafjörður, Iceland. This marks the second competition won by the two offices; the first, for a kindergarten in Garðabær, is scheduled to begin construction in May of this year and is expected to be completed by mid-2023.

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The 29 de Março community, in the Cidade Industrial de Curitiba (CIC), was one of two Brazilian regions selected by the Action Fund Brazil to receive investments to combat climate inequality. Ambiens Sociedade Cooperativa, a local cooperative, was responsible for the project — a 15-month initiative in one of the city's most vulnerable neighborhoods. The other project was implemented in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.

At the end of 2021, the port city of Genoa, Italy, introduced free public transit. Following the success of the initiative, the experiment, originally scheduled to end on March 31, 2022, was extended for another four months.

Vertical transit systems (such as elevators and funiculars) will remain free seven days a week with no time restrictions, while free subway access is available during two specific windows: daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. This free access will be valid until July 31.

On May 3 at 11 a.m., Portobello will host the UNLTD Dreams Exhibition, an event that promotes discussions on art, architecture, and sustainability, while showcasing the diverse possibilities of space design through the eyes of leading professionals. 

From May 10 to 15, the second edition of the Barcelona International Architecture Film Festival (BARQ) will take place. The event will be hosted within the MODEL. Barcelona Architectures Festival. It will feature seven feature films and twelve short films in competition, which will be screened at Barcelona's Cines Girona and the Disseny HUB. During the festival, the selected films will also be available on the Filmin platform.

Dating back to 1535, the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Igarassu, Pernambuco, is considered the oldest surviving church in Brazil. This iconic landmark has recently undergone an extensive restoration that preserves its historic features while introducing upgrades to facilitate its contemporary use. The intervention also included the adjacent two-story Parish House.

"Agostinho de Freitas was an extraordinary artist," says Agnaldo Farias, art critic, professor, and curator of the exhibition “Agostinho Batista de Freitas – Mestre das Ruas,” on view from May 12 to June 11 at Galeria Estação in São Paulo. The exhibition features a selection of about 20 of the artist's canvases from the collection of gallerist Vilma Eid.

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Two years after receiving the complete archive of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Portugal's Casa da Arquitectura inaugurated its Digital Building last weekend. Marking the institution's shift toward the inescapable virtual world, the project consists of digitizing the archive accumulated since the organization was founded in 2017.

The 13th edition of the Architecture Biennial, organized by IAB-São Paulo, will open on May 27. It emerges from a reality of intense transformations brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, which demanded major efforts to reorganize urban, social, and professional dynamics for survival. 

Travessias (Crossings), the theme of this edition, recognizes that the pandemic reinforces socio-spatial inequalities that were already established, not only in Brazil but globally, understanding that these structures undergo physical and symbolic fragmentations rooted in violent processes of colonization and historical erasure. As a result, they trigger numerous manifestations of oppression – such as racism, sexism, ableism, and coloniality – in Brazil and other territories.