When entering a dark, unfamiliar room, our hands instinctively grope along the wall, searching for a keypad to turn on the lights—and, with luck, finding it. It is one of those many things we only truly notice when they are poorly designed. When designing a space, placing controllers in accessible and intuitive locations requires careful attention from designers. Keypads belong to that category of objects we want to be easily found when needed, yet prefer to remain hidden when not in use. This is because their design often draws more attention than it should, potentially clashing with the space's aesthetic. But this does not always have to be the case. There are options that seamlessly combine design and functionality, offering customization that allows controllers to fit into any type of project.

The maker movement is a philosophy centered on the creative activity of making, which is intrinsic to human beings. This process occurs through the use, adaptation, and modification of existing resources without professional assistance (HATCH, 2013). Moreover, it is rooted in "do-it-yourself" culture, with its main distinction being the use of digital tools that facilitate and enhance collaboration, documentation, and sharing. Consequently, projects remain open and adaptable, allowing anyone to access and modify them.

Spanning over 500 kilometers across the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais, the Serra da Mantiqueira has become in recent years one of the favorite destinations for travelers seeking mild climates and a countryside atmosphere. Towns like Gonçalves, Monte Verde, Campos do Jordão, Santo Antônio dos Pinhais, and Camanducaia are just a few of the municipalities in the Mantiqueira region that have attracted a growing number of visitors seeking a closer connection with nature.

The mountain range has altitudes varying between 1,000 and 3,000 meters, resulting in low temperatures for its latitude. Additionally, mist and occasional frost lend the landscape a bucolic character quite distinct from other nearby, lower-elevation areas—an effect that becomes even more pronounced in the winter.

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Videos

Thirteen years ago, the then-mayor of Maceió, Cícero Almeida, inaugurated two major projects in the city: the Washington Luiz and João Lyra overpasses. At the time, they were expected to provide a potential solution to the capital's urban mobility issues by improving traffic flow in the area. Over time, however, the growing vehicle fleet brought back the specter of rush-hour congestion, and the projects that promised to solve mobility in the city were no longer enough.

Glass elements have long since moved beyond their most common applications—windows, mirrors, shower enclosures—and taken on other roles within interior design. Frequently used as partitions to visually expand spaces, glass also conveys lightness and sophistication, serving as a physical barrier that nevertheless allows natural light to filter through. 

Within its wide range of possibilities, different levels of transparency can be selected based on the functionality of each space. Double-glazed clear glass, for example, improves acoustic performance and is therefore frequently specified for commercial offices, enabling physical and acoustic separation while maintaining a visual connection between different workstations.

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Brazil ranks among the world's most biodiverse nations. Boasting the highest number of plant species on Earth—more than half of which are endemic—it hosts between 15% and 20% of the planet's biological diversity. Given the vast scale and diversity of its ecosystems, the wide range of ecosystem services they provide, and the current level of environmental degradation, a deep, collective reflection on how to safeguard this biological wealth has become critical.

Brazil's rapid urbanization process has radically transformed the landscape, putting pressure on ecosystems while channelizing and burying water bodies. The prevailing model of fast-paced urban growth has created unsustainable cities with a low quality of life, profoundly altering natural flows and processes, and producing environments marked by high levels of inequality and social, ecological, and economic vulnerability. In addition to the severe challenges of air, water, soil, and noise pollution faced by Brazilian cities, there is also a profound disconnection between people and nature. This disconnect is closely tied to sedentary lifestyles and poor dietary habits, ultimately leading to physical and mental health issues that impact the well-being of the urban population.

When analyzing the differences between different scales and types of architectural work, we raised the issue of how decoration is viewed with a certain stigma and marginalized by the profession. To deepen the debate, we turned to you, our audience, asking about the possible reasons for this perception. We received 108 responses, from which we have highlighted key arguments and data to help map out this scenario.

On July 2, Brazil celebrated Hospital Day. The date commemorates the founding of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Santos Hospital, in the state of São Paulo, in 1945—considered one of the largest in the country—and today serves as a way to honor healthcare professionals, from doctors and nurses to social workers, technicians, and administrative staff. 

Naturally, in the current context, this date takes on an even deeper layer of meaning, becoming also an opportunity to celebrate the immeasurable efforts of healthcare professionals who fight daily to ensure the survival of hundreds of thousands of people infected by the coronavirus. To mark the occasion beyond national borders, we have gathered ten Latin American hospital projects here. 

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Videos

Architectures of the Global South is the title of the course taught by architects Marco Artigas and Pedro Vada through the Associação Escola da Cidade. The course aimed to expand the repertoire of contemporary architectural production, taking into account the urgent need for new, fundamentally counter-hegemonic perspectives. Grounded in the concept of the Global South and aligned with a vision of solidarity among countries that have undergone colonization, the course, held between September and December 2020, established ongoing dialogues with architects practicing or residing in the countries of this so-called South.

The goal of these sessions was to discuss what and how they are building in these countries, through a direct conversation about the challenges posed by diverse territories, societies, and cultures. It explored the process and decision-making of each project in greater detail, using richer documentation than typically found in publications, while addressing structural reflections and urgent issues.

Squares are open spaces within the urban fabric, defined by buildings or streets, that facilitate a variety of gatherings and social and cultural activities. Whether intentionally planned or remnants of the urban layout, squares are fundamental to the life and culture of the community, and they proved even more vital following the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we present nine small-scale squares that demonstrate the diverse uses and functions these spaces can assume in contemporary cities.

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Videos

Shopping malls were a major trend in the early 1980s and '90s, when almost every major city around the world began investing in massive, climate-controlled retail complexes complete with food courts and movie theaters.

In Brazil, this shopping mall boom as a development model still persists in major cities and even in the country's interior. Shopping malls have acquired crucial importance for the development and maintenance of the logic of capital. Every city that "develops" has one or more malls woven into its urban fabric.

Economic crises, health emergencies, and natural disasters, followed by social conflicts, political instability, and the search for new places to live, have historically driven the displacement of hundreds of millions of people. Consequently, entire populations have had to adapt to changes in residence, habitat, and culture.

Under construction since 2014 and scheduled for completion in 2022, the TransBrasil BRT has the potential to become one of the highest-capacity BRT corridors in the world. The corridor could redefine the land use and occupation of Avenida Brasil, one of Rio de Janeiro's main thoroughfares, which last year led the ranking of traffic collisions involving casualties. The avenue cuts through and divides several predominantly low-income neighborhoods, segregating them and hindering access between both sides of the roadway. Completing the TransBrasil corridor is an opportunity for the urban restructuring of these neighborhoods and the improvement of public spaces for residents, workers, and visitors in the region.

Nicolás Valencia speaks with Chilean architects Matías González Ulloa and Sofía Carrión Bobadilla, creators of Área Verde and leaders of ⁠Arquitectura Maulina⁠, a digital platform focused on the architecture, territory, and reflections of Chile's inspiring Maule region.

Nicolás Valencia speaks with Chilean architect Germán Valenzuela about the book ⁠Del territorio al detalle⁠ (Bifurcaciones), a selection of the most interesting contemporary architects in Latin America, from Al Borde to Rozana Montiel, including Mauricio Rocha, Inés Moisset, and Solano Benítez.

Houses are the most intimate structures we as architects can design. It is no coincidence that intimacy, security, and privacy are recurring concepts in residential architecture. Yet, like all architecture, houses are inevitably embedded in a context—an environment with which they must engage. There are many ways to achieve this, particularly within highly dense urban fabrics, as is the case in many Brazilian cities.

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What happened at the conventual Church of Saint Francis of Assis in Salvador is yet another sad chapter in a process afflicting Brazilian cultural heritage, which has intensified in recent years with the fires at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, the Cinemateca, and the Museum of the Portuguese Language in São Paulo. Consequently, over the last few days, there has been intense debate regarding who is to "blame" for what occurred in Salvador, or who bore the "responsibility" to prevent this disaster, which also claimed the life of a young tourist: whether the church administrators, IPHAN (the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage), or local cultural and heritage agencies. This is a difficult and indeed important issue to discuss, demanding careful investigation into the causes of the incident. Yet the debate must be broader, aimed above all at considering how we can prevent such events from happening: greater investment, greater appreciation of artistic and architectural heritage, stricter and more effective safety protocols, preventive conservation, and heritage education. In the days following the incident in Salvador, numerous colonial-period buildings were closed across the country under the claim that they, too, might collapse. Our heritage demands attention—in many cases, urgently.

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"There is coconut candy and peteca
Let the child play
Today is a day of celebration
The ibejada comes to bless."
— Song for the erês

Streets come alive when they belong to the erês and die when they belong to cars. I dream of a project that I intend to put into practice when time allows: writing a manual of the fabulous rules of hopscotch, carniça, button football, preguinho, capture the flag, ring-around-the-rosy, lenço-atrás, slope soccer, dodgeball, and the variations of marbles. The title is already set: "The Loving Ecology of Street Games."

“Waking up early, waking the kids, making and serving breakfast, showering, bathing them, heading to the bus stop. The bag drops, the child throws a tantrum, the bus is late. Arms, backpack, child... you lose track of the order. First task of the day: the first bus and the kids arrive at school; then, rushing to another stop and another wait until the second bus arrives. Boarding, standing, dodging fatigue and harassment on the way to work. At lunchtime, a quick run to the pharmacy, and maybe the nearby open-air market. Or is today the day to stop by the butcher? Heading home from work: bags, purse, and exhaustion. A stop along the way to pick up the kids, and an inconvenient reminder of what's missing at home drives a detour to the grocery store before finally arriving back home as the day ends—though not before making dinner. Phew!”

This excerpt recounts a fictional day. However, this routine is the daily reality in many households, especially low-income ones, in peripheral areas, and in single-parent homes headed by women, where the drama of constant back-and-forth travel can be intensified by intersectional factors such as gender, race, social class, generation, territory, physical ability, and sexual orientation.

The debate on crime and public safety in Brazil has been shaped by polarization between proponents of hardline measures—ranging from stricter sentencing and streamlined legal procedures to legal immunity for police violence—and critics of the public safety and criminal justice systems, who point to systemic abuses and the ineffectiveness of incarceration in curbing crime.

Beyond this often counterproductive dichotomy—which does little to address a problem affecting a vast portion of the Brazilian population whose physical safety and property are threatened daily—crime prevention has been rarely discussed and even less prioritized. Yet, successful initiatives do exist, and they all involve local governments taking a leading role in implementing programs and coordinating police action with other social actors.

A small shelter for people experiencing homelessness has been designed in Ecuador. Combining a sleeping space and a kiosk, the structure features four wheels, allowing it to be moved as needed. 

The project, named “El Ambulantito,” was designed by the firm Natura Futura Arquitectura. The emergency shelter model consists of foldable components. “El Ambulantito was born from a reality we witness every day. A temporary shelter and production device for people who are homeless or in transit from one city to another, it prompts reflection and awareness while public policies address the issue,” the architecture firm explains. 

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Few people have the opportunity to design a city. Even fewer do so by chance. This is the story of illustrator and comic artist Eloar Guazzelli, who since 1990 has been developing an art project titled Cidade Nanquim. Working with A4 sheets of paper, the artist composes a kind of black-and-white urban mosaic that portrays fragments of an imaginary city. 

The administration of the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás intends to dissolve the Professor Edgar Albuquerque Graeff School of Arts and Architecture. 

The justification for this unexpected move is institutional cost-cutting. This argument might even be acceptable; managing or reducing expenses is standard practice, and not only for philanthropic universities. What is neither clear nor reasonable, however, is why reducing ordinary operating costs requires dissolving one of its oldest and most recognized divisions. This is a School that has stood out exceptionally on the national stage, with a history that must be recalled here to fully grasp the tragic nature of this unfolding decision—one made without dialogue with the professors, artists, and architects currently there, and without considering the identity and memory of the thousands of architects, artists, and designers who have passed through its doors over the last 70 years.

Videos

Half a century ago, a lethal fog of smoke and soot, also known as the Great Smog of 1952, blanketed London and killed at least 12,000 people. More recently, in 2013, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died as a result of air pollution. “[Ella] was the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as the cause of her death,” says 17-year-old Anjali Raman-Middleton, co-founder of the organization Choked Up and a friend of Ella's. Yet London's toxic air, a long-standing issue linked to 9,000 premature deaths per year, is more than an environmental and public health crisis.