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.
The 60th visit of the open course Arquitetura Paulistana, taught by architect Marco Artigas, took participants to the bar Pitico, a project designed in collaboration by Marina Portolano, Julia Masagão, Joana Barossi, Marcelo Dionísio, and Anna Ferrari.
One of the most influential 20th-century architecture schools, the Bauhaus experienced its glory days in the city of Dessau between 1925 and 1932. Under the direction of Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the emblematic educational complex was a place for work and housing for some of the most renowned personalities of architecture, design, and art of the last century.
Although the school in Dessau operated for a limited time with few people having the opportunity to experience the prolific environment, it left a deep impact on the architectural production that followed. The buildings that are part of the complex - both in Dessau and Weimar - were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996 and are now open for visitation.
Solano Benítez participated in the 13th edition of the International Seminar "Architecture is a Way of Knowing," which focused on the interpretation and production of urban space as an essential part of learning in architecture and urbanism, reflecting on the specificity of the architectural perspective regarding the built environment and its relationship with other viewpoints.
Brazil's National Museum, one of Latin America's most important museums, was completely destroyed by a fire that started at 7:30 pm on Sunday evening. It housed over 20 million items related to the history of the Americas, many if not all of which were lost.
A report in the Rio Times indicates that the museum had operated normally on Sunday and closed its doors at 5:00 pm, two and a half hours before the blaze began. The cause of the fire remains undetermined.
The Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Rio de Janeiro (CAU/RJ) has open applications for its first call for proposals to support the development and implementation of projects under the Technical Assistance for Social Interest Housing (ATHIS) program, alongside the sixth edition of its Cultural Sponsorship Program.
Applications for the ATHIS call are open until 4:00 PM on September 25. The deadline to submit proposals to the Cultural Sponsorship Program closes slightly earlier, at 5:00 PM on September 21. Both calls are restricted to non-profit legal entities.
The Ministry of the Environment has launched an online guide to urban agriculture. The booklet compiles techniques, reading recommendations, initiative mapping, and other resources on urban gardens.
The guide aims to encourage new initiatives and support existing ones, including through an interactive map that showcases inspiring preservation, restoration, and food production projects in cities.
Bixiga, one of São Paulo's most traditional neighborhoods, has gained significant historical and tourist importance over the years, thanks to its cantinas, street festivals, and vibrant cultural scene. However, many of the neighborhood's other layers and histories are harder to discover and access. Recognizing these numerous attractions, heritage sites, and the overall complexity of the area, and believing in the importance of walking, the NGO SampaPé! has launched the "Bixiga a Pé!" map, which highlights Bixiga's diverse historical and cultural layers for those exploring the neighborhood on foot.
Cities are living testaments to the cultural, social, economic, and political transformations of society. In a state of constant evolution, superficial traces of the past fade away, while deeper scars overlap with the multiple layers of the present that unfold across cities over decades and centuries.
Throughout history, a combination of factors has allowed some cities to remain better preserved, offering vivid glimpses of colonial Brazil. In contrast, in other cities, the traces of early urbanization have been erased or swallowed by subsequent eras.
New residential developments in the country must incorporate accessibility features in all common areas, while individual housing units must be adapted according to buyer demand. Developments will have an 18-month deadline to adapt to the new rules established by Decree 9,451, whose guidelines regulate the Brazilian Inclusion Law.
A bridge approximately 1.5 kilometers long collapsed this morning in Genoa, Italy. The Morandi Bridge, built in the 1960s, crosses the Polcevera River in the western part of the Port of Genoa, connecting the city center with the regional airport. Authorities attribute the disaster to structural failure combined with a severe storm occurring at the time of the collapse.
"True love is a span, extending infinitely,
An immense monolith, our architecture."
- Gilberto Gil, Drão
Just over two years ago, the Casa da Arquitectura - Portuguese Centre for Architecture began a major effort to assemble a collection of significant works from the last 90 years of Brazilian architectural history. In addition to expanding the institution's already impressive archive—which includes, among other items, hundreds of original scale models by Souto de Moura—this collection of more than eight thousand documents of Brazilian architecture will form the core of the exhibition Infinito Vão, curated by Guilherme Wisnik and Fernando Serapião.
Esquina, a blog by journalist Mariana Barros hosted on the Estadão portal, has launched the special series #EsquinaNaUrna to present presidential candidates with the primary demands for improving Brazilian cities. You can submit your question to Esquina, and the blog will select a group of questions to be answered by the leading candidates in the polls.
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“The Place of Sharing” is already taking shape on site. On the third day of work, foundations are being prepared and steel structures installed to support the Casa de Brincar e Não Só – Not Only a Playhouse, which is being built through August 10 at the Guarda Housing Complex (CHG) in Perafita, Matosinhos, Portugal. The initiative is part of the Self-Construction Laboratory organized by Casa da Arquitectura – Portuguese Center for Architecture.
After traveling through CCBB Brasília and CCBB Belo Horizonte, it is now CCBB São Paulo's turn to host the exhibition celebrating the centenary of Athos Bulcão, an artist known for the diversity of his work and his undeniable historical and cultural significance.
The concept and title Walls of Air was conceived as a response to the theme of Freespace proposed by curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara in order to provoke questions about: 1. the different sorts of walls that construct, on multiple scales, the Brazilian territory; 2. the borders of architecture itself in relation to other disciplines.
Therefore, a reflection began on how much Brazilian architecture and its urban developments are, in fact, free. Without the ambition of reaching an answer, but hoping to open the conversation to a large and diverse public, we chose to shed light on processes that often go unnoticed due to their nature or scale. The immaterial barriers built between people or neighborhoods, and the processes of urbanization in Brazil on a continental scale are examples of questions we considered.
This year, Athos Bulcão, one of the most active artists working at the intersection of art and modern Brazilian architecture, would have turned 100. Bulcão dedicated a significant portion of his career to merging traditional tilework with modern architectural design—and succeeded. His work defines some of the most iconic buildings of Brazilian modernism, most notably in Brasília.
Named "Jardim," the new residential project by Isay Weinfeld in New York is nearing completion. Comprising two towers positioned perpendicularly on a site adjacent to Zaha Hadid's first residential building in the city, the Brazilian firm's project is structurally well advanced, and cladding installation has already begun.
Known for its public transit system, Curitiba is taking an interesting step toward active mobility. Since last week, the capital of Paraná has been testing a type of pavement that generates electricity from the vibrations created along its bike paths.
Installed on the Belém River bridge near the Palácio 29 de Março in the city's Civic Center, the pavement captures vibrations from bicycles and pedestrians, converting them into enough electricity to power signal lights along the path.
