The jury of the Maré-City International Competition, organized by the 27th World Congress of Architects – UIA2021RIO, has selected the three winning projects and three honorable mentions. The choice was not easy: out of 180 entries from places as diverse as Germany, China, Egypt, Brazil, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Colombia, France, Portugal, Oman, and Ukraine, the jury shortlisted 28 finalists before deciding on the winners. Chinese entrants represent the majority of the awardees, securing first and second place, as well as the Roberto Burle Marx and Demetre Anastassakis honorable mentions. Third place went to a project by Brazilian students from São Paulo, while the Luiz Paulo Conde honorable mention was awarded to a project by students from Bogotá, Colombia.

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A watercolor-illustrated tourist map, a mobile application available for Android and iOS, and two books gathering stories from the neighborhoods of Rio da Luz, in Jaraguá do Sul, and Testo Alto, in Pomerode—both in Santa Catarina—comprise the Projeto Lumiar. The initiative will launch these products online at 7:00 PM this Thursday, the 8th. The result of two years of research with local communities, the launch event is supported by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan).

Maria Inês Sugai is the 2020 Architect and Urban Planner of the Year. The award is presented annually by the National Federation of Architects and Urban Planners (FNA) to professionals who stand out for their work dedicated to the development of the profession and of Brazilian cities. Holding a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degree from FAU-USP, with specializations in Urban and Regional Development and the Use and Conservation of Natural Resources from UFSC, the professor's nomination was supported by the Union of Architects and Urban Planners of Santa Catarina (SASC). Maria Inês Sugai is currently a professor in undergraduate and graduate programs at UFSC and the author of articles and books, including “Espaço e Desigualdade” (Space and Inequality). She also served as a member of the Santa Catarina State Council of Cities.

Criticism of the most common models of social housing (HIS) in Brazil is quite frequent. Indeed, these critiques are generally well-founded, given the architectural and urbanistic deficiencies of most completed developments—particularly those built in areas far from urban centers, which deny residents their right to the city.

There are, however, successful examples: projects built on the premises of access to urban infrastructure, connectivity with the immediate surroundings, construction efficiency, environmental comfort, and healthy living conditions inside the housing units. Below, we have compiled six examples of social housing—designed by Biselli Katchborian Arquitetos, Jirau Arquitetura, MMBB Arquitetos, H+F Arquitetos, Boldarini Arquitetura e Urbanismo, and Vigliecca & Associados—that offer compelling solutions to such a complex and delicate program.

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Small-scale renovations are among the most common projects in Brazil, but that does not mean they are immune to budgeting and specification issues. A useful tool to avoid these headaches is Pro-Reforma, a free web app that automatically specifies, quantifies, and estimates the products and services needed for a renovation project.

In October, the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI) launched a free basic online course on BIM (Building Information Modeling). Divided into two modules, the Democratizando BIM course is aimed at all professionals in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sectors. To register, simply visit the website and fill out the form.

The 5th edition of the {CURA} Award continues its proposal of hosting ideas competitions with themes aligned with current discussions on architecture, the city, and society, always understanding that architecture is an action-based profession. This time, participants were challenged to design the renovation of an apartment in the iconic Copan Building, designed by Oscar Niemeyer in downtown São Paulo.

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The Ícaro Jardins da Graciosa Building, designed by Studio Arthur Casas, was recognized in the Rethinking The Future Awards, an initiative that honors architecture and design projects from around the world across more than 40 categories. Located in Curitiba, the building features 21 apartment units distributed among three exposed concrete towers.

Competing in the residential (over five floors) category, the building designed by Casas features a facade defined by circulation pathways that double as balconies, emphasizing the towers' horizontality. With landscaping by Renata Tilli, these horizontal lines are accentuated by the lush greenery of plants grown in planters along the perimeter of each floor.

Since colonial times in Brazil, Black people have organized in resistance to the slave-owning and colonial regime. Brotherhoods, quilombos, famílias de santo. The Black press, domestic workers' associations, the Brazilian Black Front, and the Black Experimental Theater. Blocos-afro, the Unified Black Movement (MNU), literary groups, Black women's organizations, and international fronts. A political activism interwoven with the arts and spirituality that has brought us to where we are today.

Guilherme Wisnik talks with Bianca Santana, a journalist, writer, PhD in information science, and holder of a master's degree in communication from the University of São Paulo. Santana is the author of Quando me descobri negra, a columnist for ECOA-UOL and Gama magazine, and a member of UNEafro, one of the organizations that make up the Black Coalition for Rights.

What is comfort in living? How does the city serve as a stage for your life? How do gender and race issues influence the way you walk down the street at night? Why is the villain's house always cooler than the hero's? These are some of the topics discussed on Betoneira, a podcast hosted by architects André Scarpa, Marcelo Barbosa, and Paula Otto.

The core premise of Betoneira is to cover a bit of everything in order to speak deeply about architecture, people, and cities, blending a wide range of topics, guests, opinions, theories, and memes through the unique lens of each of the three hosts.

Altamira Editorial has made the book Arquitetas e arquiteturas na América Latina do século XX available for free download on its website. Authored by Ana Gabriela Godinho Lima, the publication features a "survey of the work of 20th-century Latin American women architects in the field of theoretical and practical building production."

"The world is highly polarized." This is a phrase we have all heard recently. While this is an undeniable fact, there have been times when the planet was just as, if not more, polarized than it is today. In particular, the period between the end of World War II and the early 1990s was marked by intense tension between the capitalist and socialist blocs, leaving deep marks on many countries and societies. The dismantling of the latter, symbolically represented by the fall of the Berlin Wall, dissipated the tension but did not eradicate communism, which remains the political system in several countries today.

There are currently six countries under a communist regime: China, North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and Transnistria. Despite differences in their economic systems—China, for example, has an economy considered mixed by some experts, with regions regulated by a capitalist market system—these countries also clearly present social, cultural, and geographical particularities that are reflected in their cities and architecture.

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Geared toward Latin American architecture students, the Acero Prize aims to promote and encourage initiatives that complement pedagogical models, fostering innovative architectural ideas that use steel as a raw material. This year's edition, themed "Sustainable Cities and Communities," awarded first place to a team of two Brazilian students from FAUUSP.

“Architecture that does not touch the ground” is the name of the proposal developed by Augusto Longarine and Luiz Sakata, advised by Professor Luciano Margotto. With the same project, they won the 13th CBCA Competition (Brazilian Center for Steel Construction), the national stage preceding the Alacero competition. See the project below, accompanied by the project description written by the students.

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Videos

Casa da Arquitectura – Centro Português de Arquitectura is celebrating its 3rd anniversary starting November 17 at the Quarteirão da Real Vinícola in Matosinhos. The program features free admission to the exhibition through November 22, alongside online content available on its social media channels.

In light of the current state of emergency and in compliance with strict safety measures, the Casa will remain open with free admission from November 17 to 22, featuring extended and adjusted operating hours.

Casa 239, designed by the São Paulo-based office UNA Arquitetos, has been selected as a finalist for the Pan-American Prize of the 2020 Quito Architecture Biennial. The only Brazilian project on the extensive shortlist, it was led by architects Fernanda Barbara and Fabio Valentim, now partners at UNA barbara e valentim, and is competing for the final award in the Single-Family Housing category.

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The Tomie Ohtake Institute, with support from AkzoNobel, announced today the three winning projects of the seventh edition of the Tomie Ohtake Institute AkzoNobel Architecture Award. A total of 246 submissions were received from 14 Brazilian states and the Federal District. The selected projects, which will also be featured in a catalog, 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 composed of architects Diego Mauro, Elisabete França, Fernando Túlio, Juliana Braga, and Pedro Varella. The announcement, made via video on the Institute's social media channels, also marks the opening of the exhibition featuring the 13 selected projects in this seventh edition.

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The history of collective housing has been the focus of the research group PC3 - Pensamento Crítico e Cidade Contemporânea (Critical Thinking and the Contemporary City), at FAUUSP, coordinated by professors Leandro Medrano and Luiz Recamán. Through the Cadernos de Habitação Coletiva (Collective Housing Notebooks) — developed under a cooperation agreement between researchers from FAUUSP and ETSAM-UPM in Madrid — the group explores the most significant examples of this housing typology in Brazil.

According to the group's platform, "the main objective of the Cadernos de Habitação Coletiva has been to build a comprehensive database, organized by decade, that includes the most relevant Brazilian collective housing buildings, both designed and built." Below, we highlight eight collective housing experiments built in São Paulo between the 1930s and 1960s, studied in detail by CHC and featured in individual articles here on ArchDaily.

What would happen if we abandoned the modern epistemology that separates “us” from “others”? What would art history look like without this restrictive separation? Many other, non-disenchanted worlds coexist with ours. Other cosmopolitics can offer us less exclusionary views of life and relationships, unearthing previously unsuspected futures.

Guilherme Wisnik talks with Renata Marquez, a professor at the UFMG School of Architecture and Design and co-editor of Piseagrama magazine. Holding a PhD in Geography and a postdoc in Anthropology, she researches curatorial practices, theory, and criticism at the intersection of art, architecture, geography, and anthropology.