Victor Delaqua holds a Master's degree from FAUUSP (São Paulo). He is an architect and urban planner from UFSC (Florianópolis) and studied at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. A contributor to ArchDaily since 2012, he is a Content and Community & Social Media editor. Professionally, he also works in exhibition and set design.
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, co-founders of Grafton Architects, were awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Earlier this year, they also received the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal, becoming the first pair of women to jointly receive the honor.
The relationships between the waters and the diverse lives that inhabit the Amazon. This is the starting point for the first Bienal das Amazônias, which brings together 120 artists from all the countries spanning the territory of the world's largest rainforest. Under the title “Bubuia: Waters as a Source of Imaginations and Desires,” the exhibition is curated by Keyna Eleison and Vânia Leal, with the collaboration of Sandra Benites and Flávia Mutran in the project's conceptualization, and is currently on view in Belém. The exhibition took shape in a building remodeled specifically to host it, and its exhibition design maintains a constant dialogue with the materials and cultures of the region. We spoke with architect Juliana Godoy, who was responsible for the exhibition design, to understand how Amazonian subjectivities were translated and conceptualized within the spatial realm.
These architectural elements are used for different reasons almost everywhere, because they have a visual permeability that promotes the much desired dialogue between interior and exterior, which most architects seek, while being able to maintain the privacy of the users of a building. However, in tropical climates, they gain even greater importance as they allow constant natural ventilation, shade areas with large amounts of sunshine, and provide natural lighting and thermal comfort.
Today is World Bicycle Day, celebrated for the diverse social, economic, and environmental benefits that this mode of transport and recreation offers. By establishing this day, the UN recognizes the contribution of cycling to the Sustainable Development Goals, including the creation of more sustainable cities and communities. This perspective gains even greater relevance during and after the pandemic. When exploring healthy ways to move around the city, active mobility stands out as a highly feasible, short-term alternative—one that goes beyond bike lanes to encompass the well-being of the citizen as a whole.
Pé na Estrada is an outreach project of the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Brasília, active since 2011 as an extracurricular activity. Its primary goal is to organize and promote study trips across Brazilian cities. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project had to adapt to social distancing, launching new heritage education initiatives and encouraging alternative ways of experiencing spaces studied in the classroom to expand the knowledge and creative vocabulary of both students and the community.
LabCidade at FAUUSP has conducted several studies on methods for mapping COVID-19 across São Paulo.
Renovations of Brazilian modernist buildings prompt a necessary debate on how to preserve and what best practices to employ when intervening in architectural heritage. The challenges of this type of intervention are immense. These projects must be approached with great care to maintain respect for their historical significance, preserving key elements of their composition while simultaneously updating the building to meet contemporary and client demands.
To purchase computers for economically vulnerable students at the Department of Architecture, Urbanism, and Design of the Federal University of Ceará—who, due to the pandemic, are unable to attend classes and lectures, develop projects, hold meetings, work in research groups, or access the vast amount of online information—professors and artists have come together for a common project: SOLIDARIEDAUD.
Mixed-use buildings are those where diverse programs converge into a single project. Crucial for compact, dense cities, this architectural typology can help reduce daily urban commutes by integrating housing, workspaces, and occasionally leisure facilities into one structure.
The way you experience the city, the urban infrastructure provided in the areas you frequent, and even the job opportunities that come your way are all, to some extent, shaped by the color of your skin. These themes unfold across multiple layers to discuss racial segregation in the urban environment in the seminar "The City and Racial Subjection," organized in 2018 by the Laboratory of Race and Urban Space Studies (Labraça) at FAUUSP.
During the pandemic, major cities became some of the most vulnerable environments; moreover, the global health crisis validated remote work and called into question the necessity of living in dense urban centers. Consequently, the urban exodus is likely to remain a constant theme in the near future, sparking major discussions within the fields of architecture and urban planning on how to manage this shift.
The Institutional Security Office (GSI) has signed a R$ 2.49 million contract for a drone detection and "neutralization" system that includes installing antennas up to 20 meters tall atop the Planalto, Alvorada, and Jaburu Palaces to protect the President of the Republic and the executive branch leadership. However, despite the urgency claimed for the project by the agency led by General Augusto Heleno, the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) is blocking the work.
Sesc São Paulo has made a series of catalogs, educational materials, and booklets produced for the institution's exhibitions available for free on its website. Fittingly, several of these themes intersect with thinking on architecture and the city.
Other bodies, spaces, and languages that have been rendered invisible or simply do not seem to fit into present-day São Paulo are being projected onto its landscape. "Voices Against Racism" is an exhibition and proposition that introduces new imaginaries to a city where narratives are constantly contested. Running until August 24, the event transforms streets from mere transit areas into spaces for art, buildings into canvases, and monuments into backdrops for artistic expressions that showcase paths usually obscured by history.
Across much of Brazil, the climate allows for the daily use of outdoor spaces. From the simplest backyards to backyard annexes equipped with barbecues and ovens, outdoor cooking is deeply rooted in the local culture. This practice has become even more prominent in light of the lessons learned from the pandemic, as open-air spaces tend to be safer. With this in mind, we have compiled twelve outdoor kitchens—or kitchens that open up completely to the outdoors—to provide design inspiration for this type of space.
When imagining a building's roof being put to use, single-family homes are rarely the first thing that comes to mind. Utilizing the top level of a building is not always considered or prioritized; as a result, the opportunity to create spaces for contemplation and gathering—which foster a stronger connection to the outdoors and the climate—is often missed. Here, we gather 13 examples of terraces in Brazilian houses that demonstrate how this space can be utilized, regardless of its size.
Following the donation of Paulo Mendes da Rocha's complete archive to the Casa da Arquitectura in Portugal, a major debate arose in Brazil, with many expressing regret over seeing the physical documentation of his intellectual and built work leave the country. Through an open letter released today, Nuno Sampaio, Executive Director of the Casa da Arquitectura, proposes institutional collaboration protocols with Brazilian entities.
The composition of interior spaces is essential to human well-being. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this topic gained even greater prominence, as the design of indoor environments—beyond being aesthetically pleasing—can also help prevent disease and directly influence how we feel.
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