Videos

The fanzine Architecture and Politics, produced days before the second round of the 2018 presidential elections, is a manifesto on the urgency of understanding the production of space in its intrinsic relationship with power. Foreshadowing the fate that the outcome of this election brought upon the country, it suggests a way of interpreting the Brazilian political landscape.

Starting tomorrow, April 8, the London city government will implement strict emission rules for pollutants and particulate matter in the central area of the city. The goal is to reduce air pollution levels. According to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the measure could help reduce the incidence of lung disease and premature deaths related to air pollution. Official estimates suggest that around 9,000 people die annually in the city from pollution-related illnesses.

The Bulgarian artist Christo will wrap the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris with recyclable blue fabric in his next work. The work, which will open on April 9 and last for two weeks, coincides with the artist's large exhibition at the Center Pompidou, which brings together works done in partnership with his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, during the period in which they lived in Paris.

Eight months after the agreement was signed, São Paulo City Hall will finally assume ownership of the Parque Augusta site, which until now has been held by developers Setin and Cyrela. The signing of the deed will take place next Saturday, April 6, during a ceremony held on the site itself.

Following runs in Rio de Janeiro in 2017 and Brasília, the exhibition “Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) – Territories of Creation”, organized to mark the architect's 110th birth anniversary, arrives at the Tomie Ohtake Institute with several new additions.

Drawings, photographs, silkscreens, and other original pieces by architects and artists from around the world will be auctioned at the Faculty of Architecture of Porto. Organized by second-year students of the Integrated Master in Architecture (MIArq) at FAUP, the "Quem dá mais" initiative—an open-bid auction—will feature works by Norman Foster, Álvaro Siza, and Eduardo Souto de Moura, among others.

The United Nations, through its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), launched a publication this month focusing on strategies to integrate nutrition policies into urban planning. The document highlights best practices in reducing food waste, promoting healthy diets, and strengthening local production chains.

Saint-Gobain has announced the winning projects of the 6th Saint-Gobain Architecture Award – Sustainable Habitat. In the Best Project of the Edition category, the winner was Sesc Avenida Paulista, by Königsberger Vannucchi Arquitetos Associados. The winners in the “Comfort,” “Innovation,” and “Sustainability” categories were, respectively, the Nova L’Oréal Building, by RRA – Ruy Rezende Arquitetura; the Fecomércio Sesc Senac Administrative Headquarters (RS), by Estúdio 41; and Sesc Osasco, by Spadoni & Associados Arquitetura e Urbanismo.

To expand the Technical Assistance Network for Housing Improvements initiated in São Paulo during the Hands-on Program in Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing (ATHIS), the non-governmental organization Soluções Urbanas is promoting the Technical Assistance for Housing Improvements Workshop across several Brazilian states. The workshop will be led by Architect and Urban Planner Mariana Estevão.

Since the 1970s, architecture has sought connections with other fields of art, looking for inspiration to break with the paradigms of the time in sculpture and painting, as well as in music and literature. In schools and professional practice, architectural projects were developed based on the study of "paintings by Vermeer, as well as those of the Cubists, the music of Bach, as well as Meredith Monk, literary fragments by Heraclitus, as well as Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and James Joyce's Finnegans Wake."[1] 

The Brazilian delegation from the Special Secretariat for Culture of the Ministry of Citizenship and the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) on a mission to Portugal has brought updates regarding Cultural Heritage. In May 2019, the European country will host an exchange mission with Brazilian city managers, mayors, and tourism trade representatives. The goal is to study benchmarks in Portuguese Interpretation Centers to bring models to the 13 Brazilian cities that host World Heritage cultural sites.

Occupying rooftops is an ancient practice; however, it was only with the Modern Movement and Le Corbusier's five points of architecture that the "fifth facade" began to be explored to its full potential. Pilotis, a free plan, ribbon windows, and a free facade combined with the rooftop garden to establish the guidelines for this new architecture. While Modernism as a universal language collapsed, many of its principles endure in contemporary architecture.

The 2019 Building of the Year Award—ArchDaily's annual recognition where the winning projects are selected by public vote—has announced its list of winners, and as usual, the selection spans buildings from all over the world. Among the projects chosen by our readers, a Brazilian design won the award in the "Public Architecture" category: Sesc 24 de Maio, by Paulo Mendes da Rocha in partnership with the firm MMBB Arquitetos.

The open call Outros Territórios – International Call for Urban Intervention Projects has selected the seven finalists of the program's first stage. All will be presented in an exhibition at Viaduto das Artes, an intriguing cultural space in the Barreiro region installed under two overpasses and aligned with the call's general concept of exploring possibilities for activating urban gaps.

MOVE CINE ARTE is an international film festival dedicated exclusively to the screening of art films and films about art, curated by Andre Fratti Costa (Brazil) and Steve Bisson (Italy).

In alignment with the Venice Architecture Biennale, the 3rd edition of MOVE—dedicated to Architecture and Urbanism and titled MOVE CINE ARCH—helps bridge the gap between festivals in Brazil and abroad, broadening the debate on urban space and key issues related to city life.

The Iphan Dictionary of Cultural Heritage is a collaborative work developed by the General Coordination of Documentation and Research of the Department of Articulation and Promotion of Iphan, as well as a research project of Iphan's Professional Master's Program in Cultural Heritage Preservation (PEP/MP). Its goal is to provide the cultural heritage preservation field with a dynamic and critical reference work that, drawing from institutional experience, highlights the fundamental practices, discourses, and concepts that characterize the history of this field in Brazil.

Among the various strategies for urban design and the occupation of public spaces, complete streets are perhaps currently the most prominent. They stem from a very simple idea: making street space truly public, in the broadest sense of the word. In other words, their goal is to provide transportation options and access to as many modes of transit as possible—walking, cycling, wheelchairs, public transportation, and private cars.

The firm Vigliecca & Associados was named the winner of an international competition in Bogotá, organized by Compensar, a Colombian social service organization, in partnership with the Universidad de los Andes. Held in two phases, the competition featured invited firms from Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as Colombia, and aimed to select the best proposal for a social housing complex.