Arqguia Colorir is a digital coloring book that invites everyone to visually reinterpret the main architectural landmarks of Rio de Janeiro. Available for free download in both English and Portuguese, the drawings feature QR codes providing direct access to descriptions of each work on the online architecture guide ArqGuia Rio.
In one of the country's hardest-hit cities by the Covid-19 pandemic – São Paulo – and in the face of the suffocating socio-environmental crisis plaguing our world and our time, how can architects and urban planners take a stand and effectively act against widespread asphyxiation and for the fundamental right to breathe, to exist, and to inhabit the Earth?
Sesc São Paulo has made a series of catalogs, educational materials, and booklets produced for the institution's exhibitions available for free on its website. Fittingly, several of these themes intersect with thinking on architecture and the city.
Other bodies, spaces, and languages that have been rendered invisible or simply do not seem to fit into present-day São Paulo are being projected onto its landscape. "Voices Against Racism" is an exhibition and proposition that introduces new imaginaries to a city where narratives are constantly contested. Running until August 24, the event transforms streets from mere transit areas into spaces for art, buildings into canvases, and monuments into backdrops for artistic expressions that showcase paths usually obscured by history.
The Instituto Tomie Ohtake and AkzoNobel have announced the 13 projects selected for the seventh edition of the Instituto Tomie Ohtake AkzoNobel Architecture Prize. The finalists include works located in Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, and King George Island in Antarctica. The selection was made by a jury comprising architects Diego Mauro, Elisabete França, Fernando Túlio, Juliana Braga, and Pedro Varella.
Warsaw, Poland, has become the second city to receive public art projects that, in addition to beautifying the landscape, clean the air. Painted by local artists, the massive mural uses special, sun-activated pigments capable of filtering the air.
The mural was produced with titanium dioxide, which attracts pollutants and transforms them into harmless nitrates thanks to a sun-activated chemical process. Through this process, the artwork can purify its surrounding air, an action equivalent to the work of 720 trees.
Dia a dia is a three-part mid-length film miniseries developed by the Urban Policy Commission (CPU) of CAU/RJ. Each episode is dedicated to one of the three pillars proposed within the theme of the right to the city—sanitation, mobility, and housing—through the perspectives and daily lives of three women living in completely different areas of Rio de Janeiro: Realengo, Barra da Tijuca, and the Santo Amaro community (Catete). The first episode, which premiered on August 21 and addresses housing, is available online.
CAU/RJ has launched the eighth edition of its Cultural Sponsorship Program. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the program will only consider projects featuring remote activities. Applications will also be submitted virtually.
In August, the city of Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais, signed a public-private partnership for a "smart city" project, setting in motion plans to become Brazil's first historic smart city. The contract entails an investment of R$ 10 million and establishes an administrative concession for the Ouro Luz consortium to operate Ouro Preto's public lighting network and telecommunications infrastructure for 25 years.
When imagining a building's roof being put to use, single-family homes are rarely the first thing that comes to mind. Utilizing the top level of a building is not always considered or prioritized; as a result, the opportunity to create spaces for contemplation and gathering—which foster a stronger connection to the outdoors and the climate—is often missed. Here, we gather 13 examples of terraces in Brazilian houses that demonstrate how this space can be utilized, regardless of its size.
Last week, Paulo Mendes da Rocha announced the donation of his entire project archive to the Casa da Arquitectura, a Portuguese institution based in Matosinhos dedicated to preserving and exhibiting architectural collections. The news was published at the time by ArchDaily and caused a stir among Brazilian architects, educators, researchers, and institutions—especially the FAUUSP, which expressed regret over Rocha's decision.
Following the donation of Paulo Mendes da Rocha's complete archive to the Casa da Arquitectura in Portugal, a major debate arose in Brazil, with many expressing regret over seeing the physical documentation of his intellectual and built work leave the country. Through an open letter released today, Nuno Sampaio, Executive Director of the Casa da Arquitectura, proposes institutional collaboration protocols with Brazilian entities.
What does the home of the future hold for us? And for whom will it become a reality? These questions served as the guiding principles for The Future of Living - Contrasts. With a keen eye on identifying the emerging movements that shape how we will live tomorrow, the research team at the Istituto Europeo di Design used the world during the COVID-19 pandemic as their primary backdrop. Drawing from this context, rather than simply discussing housing trends, the researchers address the challenges that must be resolved to make these trends a reality for everyone, rather than a mere set of forecasts that segregate rather than create opportunities.
Downtown São Paulo will receive a statue honoring Joaquim Pinto de Oliveira, an enslaved Black 18th-century architect known as Tebas. The announcement was made yesterday, September 10, by Mayor Bruno Covas at the São Paulo City Council.
The winners of the 2nd Tomie Ohtake Institute Leroy Merlin Design Award have been announced. Originally scheduled to take place in person at the Tomie Ohtake Institute alongside an exhibition of the projects, the awards were instead announced via video due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The donation of Paulo Mendes da Rocha's archive to Casa da Arquitectura, an institution based in Matosinhos, Portugal, has sparked intense debate among architects and academics since its announcement early last week. Both opposing and supportive opinions were widely shared on social media and news outlets, and an institutional collaboration agreement between FAUUSP and Casa da Arquitectura was even proposed.
In light of the debate surrounding the preservation of architecture and urbanism collections in Brazil, IABsp published an open letter calling for a national network of archives. Read the full letter below:
Launched last month, the Fortaleza Mais Verde program aims to create a network of micro-parks in the capital of Ceará and implement tree-lined bicycle corridors. Execution of the plan began in August.
"The purpose of the proposal is to preserve, secure, and progressively expand the green cover of the City of Fortaleza, making these areas usable for the population to enjoy," said the city's mayor, Roberto Cláudio. "We have several landscaping and urban planning initiatives underway. We expect to receive suggestions regarding this new pilot project. We want to ensure it is implemented and made irreversible," he added.
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To maintain the flow of reliable information about Covid-19, facilitate hand hygiene for users, and pay tribute to the victims of the pandemic, the city of São Paulo has installed a series of multipurpose urban fixtures called “Totens Urbanos – Memorial Pró-Saúde”.
The project came to fruition following a meeting between architect Leonardo Fernandes Dias—whose design proposal won the popular vote in the international Coronavirus Design Competition by the GoDesignClass platform—and the organizers of the Rede Nacional de Apoio às Famílias e Vítimas da Covid (National Support Network for Families and Victims of Covid), an independent, voluntary civil society initiative providing specialized support. Temporary and emergency-focused in nature, the series of totems will occupy 17 high-traffic locations across the city until November.
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