"The image provided by Brutalism, an architecture of sensual extremes, is often an extraordinary and unfamiliar experience for the city explorer. There can be something aggressive and a bold vocabulary (...) in the expressive palette that displays the truth of its materials and a disdain for the frivolous." This is how Simon Phipps [1] describes the fascination that Brutalist works still hold for us today. Yet, what does it mean to think about this architecture in 2021?
Gathering innovative, sustainable architectural designs for social housing that enable a reduction in energy consumption is the objective of the National Competition of Architectural Ideas for Energy Efficiency in Social Housing, launched this Monday (15) by the German governmental cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Applications are open until April 26.
Trend, style, and movement are some of the most common classifications used in attempts to define Brutalism—a term used to describe a body of architectural work produced between the 1950s and 1970s that shares certain characteristics, most notably the raw, exposed use of building materials. Defining Brutalism precisely, however, remains a difficult task, even though (or perhaps precisely because) the term has achieved such widespread currency, sparking numerous attempts to conceptualize it.
Natural disasters, whether or not compounded by human activity, are becoming increasingly frequent in today's world.
Chile has a long history of natural disasters, many of which have occurred in recent years, underscoring the dramatic and disheartening toll on its population. It is as if the country lives in a permanent state of reconstruction.
One hundred and twenty civil society organizations (NGOs, institutes, foundations, collectives, and social movements) advocating for the right to the city sent an open letter to the Mayor of São Paulo, Bruno Covas, demanding that the Strategic Master Plan (PDE) review process be conducted by the Municipal Government in a way that guarantees full public participation, respecting the principles of democracy, popular sovereignty, and transparency, even amid the pandemic.
We have curated a selection of online exhibitions on urbanism—available for free on Google Arts & Culture—exploring the history of development in major cities around the world. Discover them below:
Today, March 22, marks World Water Day. According to data from the UN, the organization responsible for establishing this commemorative date, by the year 2050, between 3.5 billion and 4.4 billion people will have limited access to this resource, the use of which increased sixfold over the last century and currently grows at a rate of approximately 1% per year.
In light of such concerning figures, the concept of sustainability and the importance of solutions aimed at water conservation and reuse become even more critical.
Through its Seminar on Culture and Contemporary Reality course, Escola da Cidade, in collaboration with the Carmen Portinho Feminist Collective, hosted seven women to discuss architectural production in today's context and how gender issues intersect with this field.
Stairs vs. Escalators. Until the beginning of the 20th century, vertical circulation was carried out through stairs. Without the apparatus of electricity, vertical circulation demanded physical effort and the attention of users, relying solely on human strength. The escalator emerged "with the rush of industrial inventions together with the science fiction desires of the 1800s, presented in 1915 as an object of entertainment at the great exhibitions of Paris and Coney Island" (KOOLHAAS, 2014, p. 1303). Soon after, it began to be used as a functional element of circulation. Initially, its use was intended to replace common stairs; however, the new technological apparatus failed to fulfill this function, becoming a complementary element and acquiring a new meaning. With larger steps to accommodate a standing, stationary body, the escalator enables a more intense flow of people, connecting steeper spaces within a smaller footprint. Compared to stairs, escalators demand different rhythms, sensations, and physical conditioning from those who traverse them.
Water is an essential resource for human life. Ensuring basic sanitation and clean drinking water is one of humanity's greatest challenges. In both urban and rural areas, access to water is critical for the health and well-being of communities and for the success of a wide range of human activities.
This is why the water crisis is such an alarming threat. Rising global temperatures and natural disasters associated with climate change contribute to this scenario. Studies suggest that by 2025, approximately 1.8 billion people will face water scarcity.
Twelve thousand years ago, our ancestors noticed that wherever a seed or fruit fell, a plant grew. Realizing they could intentionally plant seeds and harvest them later, they stopped migrating in search of food and settled permanently where they could cultivate. In doing so, they began establishing the world's first cities and inventing what we now call agriculture.
In today's global landscape, bridging architectural studies and public health is highly critical. The year 2020 brought the world to a standstill, underscoring the urgent need to focus on the most vulnerable areas. How can we guarantee high-quality public services equally to an entire population when the urban environment of one segment is so deeply compromised? Finding answers to this question is essential to planning a sustainable future for humanity.
To this end, this article reflects on spatial socioeconomic inequality, positioning architecture as a tool for transforming these spaces. It presents data on the housing and urban conditions of substandard settlements (referred to by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE as "subnormal agglomerations") and analyzes the neglected diseases affecting these communities.
The 27th World Congress of Architects launched its online program this week, preceding the in-person events scheduled to take place between July 18 and 22. Social inclusion, the periphery, and architectural interventions in favelas were the topics of debates featuring Fabienne Hoelzel, Maria Alice Rezende de Carvalho, Alfredo Brillembourg, Jorge Mário Jáuregui, Alejandro Echeverri, and Adriana Levisky.
Imagining and experiencing alternative ways to understand the relationship between the human body, space, and the ideas that connect it to the world was one of the central themes that Hundertwasser brought to light. The Austrian artist and architect, born in 1928, dedicated much of his work to environmental issues, expressing his perspective through the theory of the five skins: the epidermis, clothing, the home, social identity, and the world. Due to its universality, this concept retains a contemporary relevance.
Pier Luigi Nervi is a curious case in architectural history. He designed large reinforced concrete buildings—and was even responsible for technical developments related to this material—defined by their bold, expressive, and heroic structural concepts. His design method was similar to Le Corbusier's during his so-called "Brutalist phase," which "(...) approached the architectural program starting from general principles, subsequently adapting them to the real situation. The project was defined by the structural concept [partido], which was organized from the general to the particular" (Acayaba, 1985). This is evident in the Italian's buildings, which are largely pavilion-like structures in which a massive structural roof spans the specificities of the program.
With a foundational career as a professor at FAUUSP, serving for 15 years at the São Paulo Municipal Planning Department and as an urban planning consultant for municipal, state, and federal agencies, Flávio Villaça will be remembered for his professional integrity and as one of Brazil's most prominent urban theorists. His intellectual work shaped generations of architects and urban planners, fostering a critical perspective on Brazilian cities—their development, inequalities, segregation, and potential.
More than just software, BIM (Building Information Modeling) represents an entire approach to representing, modeling, and managing a project, factoring in different dimensions and quality parameters throughout a building's design and subsequent operation—such as architectural design, budgeting, process management, thermal performance, and the environmental impact of materials and their application. Design thinking through BIM must be implemented from the very initial ideas and is most effective when it influences the entire decision-making chain that shapes the project, including post-occupancy evaluations.
The book “The High Cost of Free Parking,” by retired University of California professor Donald Shoup, demonstrates that parking can impose a significant social cost. Shoup argues that the car-centric city model is irrational, allocating increasingly more resources and space to a machine that goes unused 95% of the time.
Portugal is a fascinating country when it comes to architecture. With a population of just over 10 million, its architectural output far exceeds what its population or territorial scale would suggest, and this art is not only a part of but deeply rooted in the national culture. With the aim of exploring the architects, projects, and stories behind landmark Portuguese architecture, Sara Nunes, from the architectural film production company Building Pictures, launched the podcast No País dos Arquitectos, where she talks with leading figures of contemporary Portuguese architecture.
These conversations offer a chance to discover the people, behind-the-scenes moments, processes, and references of prominent architects. For the first episode, Sara talks with none other than João Luís Carrilho da Graça about his design for the Lisbon Cruise Terminal, completed in 2018. Read the full interview or listen to the podcast below.
The construction of streets throughout the twentieth century was largely based on the premise that more infrastructure eases traffic. Evidence shows, however, that instead of reducing congestion, building more roads actually increases traffic. Reducing drive times makes driving more convenient; consequently, coupled with the status-symbol appeal of private vehicles, people tend to make more trips by car. A recent study by researchers at the University of Barcelona analyzed data from 545 European cities between 1985 and 2005, confirming that two decades of efforts to expand road capacity led to an increase—rather than a decrease—in vehicle traffic, failing to alleviate congestion.
A Danish company named KiteX has developed a wind turbine for those seeking an “off-the-grid” lifestyle. Collapsible and portable, the turbine can be carried in a car to generate power even in remote locations.
Constructed with fiberglass rods, the turbine weighs only 10 kg and is easily transportable. When needed, users simply unpack, assemble, anchor it to the ground (using a set of high-strength nylon tension straps), and begin capturing wind energy. The company estimates that 15 minutes is enough for one person to set up all the components.
Last week, we announced the 15 finalists for the 2021 Obra do Ano, an award celebrating the best of Lusophone architecture by inviting our readers to select their favorite projects built in Portuguese-speaking countries. The day has come to find out the winners of ODA 2021.
Madrid will demolish the M-30 highway overpass, located between the Puente de Vallecas and Retiro neighborhoods. This was the unanimous decision of the councilors of the Plenary of the Ayuntamiento de Madrid—the city's elected municipal council—who met on March 30. According to the author of the proposal, councilor and member of the Más Madrid party Francisco Pérez Ramos, the decision is crucial because the overpass has turned “into a wall.”
In the face of contemporary changes, architects and urban planners must revisit their roles. In contrast to planning approaches that produce increasingly massified and generic cities, establishing practices of resistance to reclaim the city for pedestrians is paramount. To be effective, these practices must foster connections between the people who experience the city daily and the urban space itself, moving away from technical definitions that treat public participation as fragmented. Instead of fueling collective paranoia that builds insurmountable walls in search of excessive security, the city should align with technology to promote openness, open-source models, collaboration, and collective creation. Beyond its practical connective function, the street must enhance lived experiences, becoming a space for chance encounters, reflection, and, above all, appropriation.
.jpg?1616416482 "Majamaja Wuorio Eco-Cabin / Littow Architectes. Image: © Marc Goodwin")
_corpo-máquina.jpg?1616617933 "Escalators in the expanded downtown area. Image © Marina Schiesari")
.jpg?1617308349 "Photo: Martin Abegglen from Bern, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons")
.jpg?1617308454 "Main facade of the KunstHausWien Museum by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (Vienna, Austria). Photo: Jules Verne Times Two / www.julesvernex2.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons")
