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In 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral was coming back from a hunting trip with his dog when he noticed that some seeds kept sticking to his clothes and his dog's fur. He observed that they contained several "hooks" that caught on anything with a loop, and from studying this plant, seven years later, he invented the hook and loop fastener, which he named Velcro.
According to a UN-Habitat report, in 2013 approximately one billion people lived in informal settlements, and this number is expected to double by 2030. Seen as the result of policy, legislative, and housing provision failures—at both national and urban levels—informal settlements cannot be understood merely as a byproduct of demographic explosion and globalization.
In light of today's climate emergency, our current urban model—defined by rapid, uncontrolled growth that fosters social segregation and harms the environment—must be replaced.
Against this backdrop, the concept of Sustainable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) emerges to break with existing spatial planning paradigms. As the name suggests, TOD proposes action strategies that integrate urban design with transport and mobility planning, which can be implemented through public policies or urban projects.
The first architecture course in Brazil was established more than 200 years ago as part of the "French Mission" of 1816. The Royal School of Sciences, Arts, and Crafts of Rio de Janeiro offered the only course in the country for over fifty years. It was an institution geared toward educating the Brazilian elite, lacking any research purpose, and training an "architect-artist in service of the court."
According to architect and researcher Sônia Marques, the requirements for admission to the Royal School were "knowing how to read, write, and count," and the curriculum of the architecture course consisted of subjects such as: ornamental drawing, ornamental sculpture, archaeology and applied mathematics, perspective and shadows, and stereotomy (the technique of cutting construction materials), among others. Its foundation aimed to meet the needs of a clientele consuming symbolic goods—a demographic developed and fostered primarily by the recent presence of the Portuguese court in Brazil. [1]
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Caring for the earth, caring for people, and caring for the future. These are the three ethical principles that have guided the practice of permaculture since the term was coined in the late 1970s by Australian ecologists David Holmgren and Bill Mollison. This was an era when the environmental movement gained significant traction, with the emergence of various organizations and movements united in an effort to curb the destruction of the planet's natural resources.
Its three core principles embody a commitment to caring for natural resources, pursuing a social life in harmony with nature, and creating systems to share these resources.
In his book Breve Historia del Urbanismo (Brief History of Urbanism), Fernando Chueca Goitia states that the medieval city appeared at the beginning of the 11th century and flourished only between the 12th and 13th centuries. According to the author, this growth was closely linked to the development of commerce that allowed permanent occupations, resulting in a city no longer composed mainly of travelers. In other words, the bourgeoisie was formed thanks to the most diverse activities - craftsmen, tradesmen, blacksmiths, longshoremen - which stimulated the development of the medieval city.
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When designing in times of quick and constant transformations, one must keep a close eye on the surge of new demands, and one must design spaces that embrace such mutability.
Flexible furniture is a reflection of this contemporary behavior because they can be moved around easily, they have great adaptability, and because they can perform different functions in a single piece. These pieces enable several different layouts, being able to adjust their shape according to specific requirements and changes, which helps optimizing interiors.
We have selected eight Brazilian projects that combine versatility and flexibility in furniture design.
Vernacular architecture can be defined as a type of local or regional construction, using traditional materials and resources from the area where the building is located. Consequently, this architecture is closely related to its context and is aware of the specific geographic features and cultural aspects of its surroundings, being strongly influenced by them. For this reason, they are unique to different places in the world, becoming even a means of reaffirming an identity.
The search for the ideal city has always permeated human history, constituting a utopia pursued by rulers, artists, philosophers, and, in more recent history, by us, urban planners. Since the 19th century, various models of ideal cities have been proposed—and, at times, built—ranging from Howard's garden cities to mechanized, radial, and walking cities (like those of the Archigram group), to nomadic ones like Constant Nieuwenhuis's New Babylon, and modernist cities, among others.
During times of isolation, many people have been talking about the importance of greenery in indoor spaces as a way to nourish our vital relationship with nature. These touches of green can contribute to the well-being and emotional comfort of users, whether in homes or commercial spaces.
Besides this psychological connection, a well-designed indoor garden can also help to purify the air and provide thermal comfort to the environment.
The abandoned city is a classic suspense setting, a place of terror and degeneration, a stimulating blend of danger and freedom. An ambience that ambiguously incites both repulsion and curiosity. A dark, hidden, and marginal space that seems to mourn, in its haunting silence, the void left by those who once lived there. Among its fragments scattered across the floor, fear, discovery, and the inevitable nostalgia for a past that is not necessarily one's own recreate stories of abandonment. Spaces that once had names, dates, and functions, now slowly decomposing in the solitude of the present.
This coming Saturday, October 31, marks World Cities Day, an observance established by the United Nations in 2015 as part of the annual “Urban October” initiative. This celebration aims to foster international interest in global urbanization, enhance cooperation among countries to address urbanization challenges, and contribute to sustainable urban development worldwide.
Yet, while the word “city” generically denotes an “agglomeration of people within a defined geographical area,” in practice we know that each of these settlements is shaped by highly unique developmental and cultural factors. With this in mind, we are using this global celebration of cities to focus on our own reality, highlighting the challenges currently faced by Latin American cities.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 as part of a global agenda aimed at implementing public policies to guide humanity toward a sustainable future by 2030.
According to the organization, the goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. They address a wide range of issues, including health, education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, sustainable consumption and production, the protection and sustainable use of oceans and terrestrial ecosystems, and inclusive economic growth.
Considered one of the world's oldest construction techniques, structural masonry in Brazil was first used during the colonial period with stone, adobe, and rammed earth. Since then, the method has evolved, finding renewed viability through contemporary materials such as modular concrete blocks or load-bearing ceramic blocks.
In this construction method, where the structure and enclosure are built simultaneously, columns and beams are unnecessary. Consequently, the walls serve a dual purpose: they define the spaces while functioning as the load-bearing structure of the building.
Mixed-use buildings are urban devices characterized by a diversity of uses. Sharing an existence fraught with obstacles and setbacks, those that manage to get built endure as true survivors of a vigorous species that thrives in areas of opportunity, carving a path through real estate speculation.
Juliana Coelho is an architect and urban planner with experience in the humanitarian, public, and private development sectors. For the past three years, she has been working in this sector with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. During this period, she was involved in the planning, design, and implementation of 21 temporary shelters, transit centers, and reception/documentation centers for refugees and migrants in Brazil. She also participated in drafting a contingency plan and upgrading spontaneous settlements and donated spaces, providing technical support to Operation Welcome (Operação Acolhida)—the Brazilian government's response to the influx of Venezuelan refugees and migrants to Brazil, which in 2020 also included emergency response measures to COVID-19.
On one hand, the exorbitant speed represented by rapid, minute-by-minute propagation, the crossing of borders, the spread across all continents, and unrestrained multiplication. On the other, the untouched, the immobile, the domestic cloister, isolation, and confinement in an attempt to avoid any sudden movement, suppress impulse, and control the environment. On one side, the virus; on the other, humanity.
In this pandemic scenario, where a deadly virus is nurtured by the uninterrupted speed of our movements—making us, ourselves, its driving force—immobility is seen as a key part of the antidote. This is an immobility that costs us dearly, confining us to our homes and forcing us to rethink how we experience the world.
An architect colleague of mine once mentioned that her firm had hired a new intern. He was a competent, dedicated student in the middle semesters of his architecture program. His hiring was primarily due to his strong skills in BIM (Building Information Modeling) software, with a portfolio filled with well-resolved, medium-scale projects.
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.jpg?1606937426 "Têkoa. Courtesy of Sem Muros arquitetura integrada")
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.jpg?1598995537 "Cortesia de ACNUR")
