Romullo Baratto is an architect with a PhD from FAUUSP and Managing Editor of ArchDaily. He previously coordinated the editorial team of the 11th São Paulo Architecture Biennial and served as Managing Editor of ArchDaily Brasil, where he led the platform to win the FNA Award—the first time the honor was granted to a media outlet. He collaborated on the editing of the book "Concrete Jungle", published by gestalten, and has curated architecture exhibitions in Brazil, Chile, Denmark, and Italy, as well as delivered lectures and moderated debates in Spain, the United States, and Portugal. His doctoral thesis investigates the urban landscapes of São Paulo through cinema. His work spans academic research and editorial practice, communicating architecture through texts, interviews, lectures, curatorship, and photography. Follow him on Instagram @romullobf.
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Aerial view of the Za'atri refugee camp. Photo: U.S. Department of State, via VisualHunt
They are architects, but they do not believe architecture alone can fully address the complexity of urban life. Rahul Mehrotra, from India, and Zulu Araújo, from Brazil, came together for the debate on Migrations and Diasporas, part of the June programming for the 27th World Congress of Architects. They shared their experiences and both argued that architecture, in dialogue with other fields of knowledge, must encompass movements of a social and cultural nature. The debate was moderated by engineer Daniella Abreu, Executive Secretary of International Affairs for the State of Santa Catarina.
The Level Building, an eight-story corporate building constructed in downtown Tubarão, Santa Catarina, took just 100 days to complete, with 20 of those days dedicated exclusively to on-site assembly. This was made possible by using off-site construction methods, meaning it was fabricated in a factory. Due to its scale and rapid timeline, the off-site building is being hailed as a milestone in Brazilian construction. “It is the largest volumetric off-site building in Latin America,” says Ricardo Mateus, CEO and founder of the construction tech company Brasil ao Cubo, the firm behind the project.
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.
Elevado João Goulart, the "Minhocão", in São Paulo. Photo: iStock by GettyImages
Are Brazilian cities ready to adapt to climate change? Driven by this question, scientists at the University of São Paulo (USP) have developed an index to measure the adaptive capacity of urban centers to the impacts of climate change. The index, called the Urban Adaptation Index (UAI), is described in an article published in the May issue of the scientific journal "Climatic Change".
Developed by researchers from the CiAdapta project, which studies the interactions between climate transitions, cities, and decision-making processes, the UAI aims to evaluate the presence or absence of legal and regulatory frameworks supporting urban interventions related to climate adaptation.
Registration for the 8th Instituto Tomie Ohtake AkzoNobel Architecture Prize has been extended until September 9. Submissions can be made online and free of charge on the award website.
The initiative—aimed at Brazilian or foreign architects who have lived in Brazil for at least two years and present projects built over the last ten years—continues to map contemporary architectural production, highlighting significant projects in the current Brazilian landscape. Commitment to the site and sustainability, as well as design and constructive inventiveness, are key aspects of the evaluation process.
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has launched a scholarship for Brazilian students up to 28 years old. Created in partnership with the Brazilian consulting firm Quanta Consultoria and the IAAC Redes Platform, the Jaime Lerner Scholarship honors the influential urban planner who passed away in May of this year, and covers all tuition costs for the Online Master in Cities (MOeC): Proximity Urbanism, for the 2021-22 academic year.
Following a one-year hiatus imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, Open House Porto (OHP) returns in an adapted format that aims to celebrate the relationship between citizens and public space. On July 3 and 4, the public will be able to visit and explore 16 spaces in Matosinhos, Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, and, for the first time, Maia, which is making its debut in the event.
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.
Metropolis. Directed by Fritz Lang. Distributor: Kino Video, 1927. 1 DVD (153 min) and the possibility of a dystopian future. Source: Film screenshot
Belas Artes À La Carte is a movie streaming service designed for film lovers. Its catalog of around 400 titles includes films from all corners of the world and all eras: contemporary works, classics, cult films, works by great directors, award winners, and, above all, those that deserve to be revisited and touch the hearts of cinephiles.
Another highlight is the curated film showcases. Recently, À La Carte featured specials dedicated to French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, and Swiss cinema. Recognizing the close and prolific relationship between architecture and cinema, ArchDaily and Belas Artes À La Carte have partnered to offer readers one month of free access to the platform's film catalog!
Original photo: Francisco Albuquerque. Lina Bo Bardi on the staircase of the Glass House, 1952, São Paulo, Brazil. Courtesy of Prêmio {CURA}
The 6th {CURA} Award continues the practice of holding idea competitions with themes aligned with current discussions on architecture, the city, and society, aiming to deepen the debate on contemporary Brazil. In 2021, the curatorial team of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale awarded a posthumous Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992), Brazil's most prominent architect—who, despite being born in Rome, became a naturalized Brazilian citizen in 1953. The initiative also celebrates the release of the book Lina: Uma Biografia by Francesco Perrotta-Bosch, published by Todavia.
To celebrate the award and honor Lina and her incredible work, the theme of the 6th {CURA} Award is Lina Bo Bardi.
To celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in June, Facebook colored São Paulo with a hybrid installation titled #JuntosComOrgulho, fusing the analog and the digital at an iconic city landmark, the Minhocão. The elevated highway, which is open to pedestrians at night and on weekends, features a massive blank wall painted with the colors of the LGBTQIA+ flag, designed by Estudio Guto Requena in partnership with Mutato and Studio Curva.
As of July, 11 new Brazilian cities will join the Urban95 initiative. In total, 24 cities in Brazil have already committed to creating and strengthening actions focused on early childhood in public spaces, data management, programs, and services, ensuring these initiatives are transformed into public policies.
Urban95 begins with the following question: "If you were 95 cm tall (the average height of a three-year-old child), what would you do differently in the city?" With this vision in mind, the proposal is to design and implement urban transformation and service policies. The goal is to build cities that are good for children and, consequently, for everyone.
Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro. Photo by Halley Pacheco de Oliveira, via Wikipedia. License CC BY-SA 3.0
Professionals and students from several countries are about to participate in an unprecedented way in the world's largest architecture and urbanism event. The main program of the 27th World Congress of Architects (UIA2021RIO), which was scheduled to take place in July 2020 in Rio de Janeiro and postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, begins on Sunday, July 18, in a 100% digital format for the first time in history. Through July 22, attendees will watch lectures by twenty of the most prominent names in global architecture and roundtables with more than one hundred internationally award-winning architects, as well as paper presentations, cultural activities, and awards. Since March, nearly 90,000 people from over 180 countries have been following the preparatory panels—an absolute record in the more than 70-year history of the event, which is held every three years by the International Union of Architects (UIA).
Designed by Atelier Marko Brajovic, the project ROOTS - mangrove ecosystem is part of the exhibition Future Assembly, curated by Studio Other Spaces, by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann, which responds to the theme How will we live together? proposed by Hashim Sarkis, curator of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. The project features a 3D-printed model, hand drawings, and videos, which remain open to visitors until November 21, 2021, at the Giardini.
Future Assembly aims to introduce the United Nations' alternative multilateral value system to the Venice Architecture Biennale, reflecting on the past 75 years of UN multilateralism and imagining new futures of how we can collaboratively come together. The Atelier believes that a future multilateralism must expand beyond a human-centered worldview to a more-than-human gathering.
The Romano Guerra Editora and the Instituto Tomie Ohtake are launching a new book on the work of Ruy Ohtake, exploring aspects of the architect's career that have received little attention in previous publications. According to editors Abilio Guerra and Silvana Romano Santos, “the nine previous monograph publications lacked consistent technical drawings. Unrestricted access to the architect's archives, however, made it possible to analyze and present the complexity of the designs.”
Elizabeth de Portzamparc - Musée de la Romanité de Nîmes. Photo by Wade Zimmerman, via UIA2021RIO
The World Stage at UIA2021RIO, the 27th World Congress of Architects, hosted three award-winning architects from its keynote speaker lineup this week: Elizabeth de Portzamparc, a Brazilian-born architect based in France; Anna Heringer of Germany; and Tatiana Bilbao of Mexico.
Elizabeth de Portzamparc discussed the concept of “Nexus Architecture,” which advocates for connecting various elements when thinking about and creating architecture. Meanwhile, Anna Heringer advocated for a working method focused on social justice and community inclusion in projects that can transform lives. Finally, Tatiana Bilbao gave a poetic presentation on the home as a social act, housing rituals that architecture must always consider.
Brazil has just gained another World Heritage site. The legacy of one of the 20th century's greatest landscape architects, the Roberto Burle Marx Site (SRBM) was recognized on Monday, July 26, during the 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Site was recognized under the Cultural Landscape category, which includes properties that represent the interaction between the natural environment and human activities, resulting in a modified natural landscape. Brazil now has 23 properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a registry of sites considered to possess outstanding universal value for human culture.
The Women’s House in Africa design competition aimed to promote the involvement and empowerment of the female community in Senegal. The competition was organized by Kaira Looro International, a non-profit organization that hosts contests open to students and young architects to foster humanitarian projects in developing countries and spotlight emerging architectural talent.
The competition, which challenged participants to design a “women’s house” featuring symbolic, ecological architecture inspired by local traditions, selected a Brazilian team among its finalists, composed of students Marcela Luana Sutti and Adenir Filho. Read more about the featured proposal and its project description below.
