Articles

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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When we think of New York, we think of Manhattan and its supertall skyscrapers. Consequently, we believe the city is one of the densest places on Earth—a Hong Kong on the Hudson. Yet, looking upward distracts us from another reality: New York is not that dense when considering its overall land area. Once you leave Manhattan and pass through the outer historic boroughs, you find a distinctly suburban city. The landscape comprises block after block of single-family homes, strip malls, and wide, car-dominated streets. New York is, therefore, a tale of two cities—one of skylines, and one of sprawl.

Once urbanization occurs, whether legally or illegally, and land is subdivided and populated, it becomes extremely difficult to retroactively reorganize its boundaries—especially property lines—and secure land for basic public needs.

This difficulty stems from two main factors. First, any land reorganization requires displacing existing users, which disrupts their social, cultural, and economic networks—their so-called "social capital"—and also affects the sense of equality and the fair distribution of rights. Second, the value of urban land rises with intensive use, particularly when supply is scarce amid high demand.

In the 1970s, buildings along the waterfront of Santos, in São Paulo, began to tilt, sparking curiosity among residents and visitors alike. This phenomenon can be seen as the result of rapid and unregulated urbanization, manifesting as a technical issue in the buildings' construction. 

Santos, one of the largest cities on the São Paulo coast, with an estimated population of over 430,000 (IBGE 2020), located in the Baixada Santista metropolitan area near the city of São Paulo, was one of the first settlements to be established after Portuguese colonization in the 16th century. Prior to this, however, its territory was dominated by the Atlantic Forest biome and inhabited by Indigenous peoples, such as the Guarani Mbya and Tupi-Guarani. 

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Eight organizations working toward Brazil's sustainable development are joining forces to promote Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) as a strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change in cities, address urban challenges, and make cities more resilient.

The term is relatively recent and still little known to the general public in the country. However, the concept, established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is simple: to promote interventions inspired by healthy ecosystems to address urgent societal challenges, especially in large metropolises. Water scarcity, flooding, biodiversity loss, health issues, and rising sea levels are some of the challenges that can be tackled by viewing nature as part of the solution, generating environmental, social, and economic benefits.

The relationship between mental health and architects, particularly architecture students, is not a new concern. In a world where stress is one of the greatest challenges of the century—affecting over 90% of the global population according to the World Health Organization (WHO)—the field of architecture and its practices, both academic and professional, have normalized stress and anxiety as intrinsic to the profession. However, recent student surveys reveal deep dissatisfaction with this reality, which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Is it time, therefore, to reassess institutional practices and push for a cultural shift?

Everything built through human physical and intellectual labor carries meaning. It is within physical matter that we find the remains of ancient civilizations, and through these records, we understand their characteristics, the technologies involved, and their social organization. Cities and major urban centers hold layers upon layers of events recorded in their streets, buildings, plazas, and parks. Often, depending on the development of the place, this evidence is gradually erased, disregarded, and altered. 

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Beyond viewing the home as mere shelter and protection, there is now a much greater complexity of functions integrated into the elementary programs of dwelling. We no longer think only of spaces for sleeping, cooking, and bathing, but rather of a series of new programs that demand new spaces and configurations. Among these, leisure emerges as an activity integrated into living, in the form of backyards, swimming pools, and TV rooms. 

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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.

Years ago, the construction industry was among the most technologically lagging; today, however, we can confidently say that automation is here to stay.

William Morris was one of the leading figures of the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement. Guided by his political ideals, his practice spanned architecture, decoration, and design, eventually extending to writing—always striving to foster workplaces as spaces of pleasure and contemplation.

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Crises typically spark shifts in how we move. Post-war prosperity turned the automobile into a household staple and a lifestyle. The global fiscal and oil crises of the 1970s brought a short-lived bicycle boom alongside a withdrawal of municipal funds from public transit. Meanwhile, the 2008 financial crisis paved the way for Silicon Valley venture capital to surge, backing new platforms like Uber and Waze.

“Since the Industrial Revolution, assembly lines have dictated a world made of parts, framing the imagination of architects and designers who were trained to think of their projects as the result of pieces with distinct functions.” These were the words of Israeli architect and MIT Media Lab researcher Neri Oxman during her TED Talk entitled “Design at the intersection of technology and biology.”

Oxman emphasizes that our traditional way of building has remained unchanged for millennia and must be reinvented. Indeed, we have been taught to construct buildings and cities in a rationalized, piecemeal manner, without considering the whole. To this day, this logic is still taught in universities.

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.”

In Jacques Tati's classic film *Mon Oncle* (1958), the house—as the scenographic embodiment of the "machine for living"—is the protagonist. Its technological devices, occasionally untameable, dictate the rules. The homeowner, Madame Arpel, is a typical technocentrist, marveling at the technology surrounding her and believing it to be the solution to all her daily problems. In contrast to Madame Arpel is her brother, Mr. Hulot, who arrives for a visit and struggles to cope with all this innovation. Throughout his stay, we are introduced to a house that proves to be highly complex, while simultaneously denying the user any control.

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As the Covid-19 pandemic altered urban landscapes and drew more people toward active mobility, there is a heightened urgency to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Many cities are now tasked with protecting the most vulnerable users, while also creating safe public spaces that enable economic recovery and allow people to enjoy the outdoors. At the same time, there are long-term reasons to support this transition.

“Walking and cycling are among the most sustainable ways to get around cities – but not if they are extremely dangerous options,” says Claudia Adriazola-Steil, interim director of Urban Mobility and director of Health & Road Safety at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

The Neighborhood Plan is an urban planning tool that encourages residents to propose initiatives to improve their neighborhoods. It was established in São Paulo by the Strategic Master Plan municipal law with the goals of aligning local issues with the city's broader structural demands, identifying the need for public, social, and recreational facilities in neighborhoods, strengthening the local economy, and fostering job opportunities.

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In urban planning, population density is a subject that sparks discussion, doubt, and debate. A common point of confusion, for instance, is conflating built density (the amount of built area in a given location) or even building height with population density (the number of residents in a given location).

In New York, for example, Midtown Manhattan has perhaps the city's highest concentration of skyscrapers, despite having a population density of "only" 18,000 residents/km²—less than half of the Upper West Side, which boasts 44,000 residents/km² with lower but predominantly residential buildings, whereas Midtown has fewer residential buildings. In Brazil, this discrepancy is far more extreme: the densest neighborhoods in major Brazilian cities tend to be the most horizontal, as they consist of informal settlements (favelas) with small housing units, minimal space between structures, and larger families living in (or cohabiting) these units.