The Rio de Janeiro Charter, which outlines proposals for the urban development of cities worldwide in the coming years, was presented during the closing of the 27th World Congress of Architects on July 22. The document advocates for a new city model in the post-pandemic world—one more attentive to climate change, quality spaces, public health, dignified housing, and the reduction of inequalities. The UIA2021RIO Executive Committee announced that the Rio Charter will be delivered to the mayors of all state capitals in Brazil, marking the consolidation of the proposals discussed throughout the event, which was hosted in the country for the first time.

Anyone who has played with wooden blocks or the famous LEGO toy knows the satisfaction of imagining something and building it with their own hands. In Belgium, this concept has taken on a whole new scale. Construction specialist Gabriel Lakatos has always loved playing with blocks and turned this passion into a building system for wooden houses. His company, Gablok, sells home construction kits designed to make building simple and efficient.

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Few people have the opportunity to design a city. Even fewer do so by chance. This is the story of illustrator and comic artist Eloar Guazzelli, who since 1990 has been developing an art project titled Cidade Nanquim. Working with A4 sheets of paper, the artist composes a kind of black-and-white urban mosaic that portrays fragments of an imaginary city. 

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.

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The Museu dos Emboabas Competition, an initiative of the municipality of Caeté, Minas Gerais, seeking architectural proposals to honor the memory of the War of the Emboabas, has selected the firm ARQLIQ arquitetura and architect Laila Bentes, with collaboration from Márcio Motta and Giulia Sgarbi, as the winners. The winning proposal was chosen for its careful attention to both the building's interior, with its spacious and versatile areas, and its surrounding environment.

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The administration of the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás intends to dissolve the Professor Edgar Albuquerque Graeff School of Arts and Architecture. 

The justification for this unexpected move is institutional cost-cutting. This argument might even be acceptable; managing or reducing expenses is standard practice, and not only for philanthropic universities. What is neither clear nor reasonable, however, is why reducing ordinary operating costs requires dissolving one of its oldest and most recognized divisions. This is a School that has stood out exceptionally on the national stage, with a history that must be recalled here to fully grasp the tragic nature of this unfolding decision—one made without dialogue with the professors, artists, and architects currently there, and without considering the identity and memory of the thousands of architects, artists, and designers who have passed through its doors over the last 70 years.

On Tuesday, July 27, it was announced that Eladio Dieste's Church of Atlántida, one of his most renowned works in Uruguay, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

On July 29 (Thursday) at 7:00 PM, {CURA} will host a Masterclass with Nelson Kon, a renowned photographer specializing in architecture and cities.

Walking Week 2021 celebrates walking and green spaces in cities

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Videos

Half a century ago, a lethal fog of smoke and soot, also known as the Great Smog of 1952, blanketed London and killed at least 12,000 people. More recently, in 2013, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died as a result of air pollution. “[Ella] was the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as the cause of her death,” says 17-year-old Anjali Raman-Middleton, co-founder of the organization Choked Up and a friend of Ella's. Yet London's toxic air, a long-standing issue linked to 9,000 premature deaths per year, is more than an environmental and public health crisis.

The Museu do Pontal is hosting an online debate series titled "The New Museu do Pontal – Partnerships and Inspirations," beginning August 5, 2021, at 5:00 PM. This event kicks off the programming leading up to the inauguration of the museum's new headquarters in Barra da Tijuca, the date of which will be announced during the session. The seminar will be held biweekly. The first meeting will feature Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, Hugo Barreto of the Instituto Cultural Vale, Eduardo Saron of Itaú Cultural, Luciane Gorgulho of BNDES, and collector Edmar Costa Pinto, all supporters of the Museu do Pontal. Museum directors Lucas Van de Beuque and Angela Mascelani will also be in attendance.

Cities that are good for children are good for everyone. They are more humane cities, building stronger and more sustainable communities. Therefore, urban mobility and early childhood are deeply interconnected. They are intrinsic, inherent to one another. Children and their caregivers—whether parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or nannies—experience the city more deeply than many adults caught in a daily home-to-work routine. And they need the city to grow well, both physically and socially. Cities must foster this necessary, holistic development. Without active participation in urban life, this development cannot occur as it should, resulting in the confinement of childhood—an outcome that benefits neither people nor cities.

Nothing represents this change better than the habitat humanity has created for itself. The generation before Toffler knew an eminently rural world, of humans bound to the land, born and dying within their communities. The generation yet to be born will inherit an already urbanized, hyper-connected world, characterized by extreme mobility between cities and countries. We, who live today, have both the privilege and the responsibility of watching this urban phenomenon reshape the face of the planet.

Half a century ago, when Future Shock was published, just over a third of the world's population lived in cities. Today that figure stands at 55%, a share projected to rise to 70% by 2050. Nearly 90% of this growth will occur in Africa and Asia. The number of people living in informal settlements has already reached one billion worldwide, and the UN estimates that, by 2030, about three billion people will need adequate housing.

In July of this year, UNESCO designated the Roberto Burle Marx Site as a World Heritage site. As a result, Brazil now has 23 sites and practices inscribed on the World Heritage List, which brings together properties, ensembles, and practices of tangible and intangible value.

According to UNESCO, the 23 listed properties and practices in Brazil can be divided into Cultural Heritage—"composed of monuments, groups of buildings, or sites that have outstanding universal historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological, or anthropological value"—and Natural Heritage—"outstanding physical, biological, and geological formations, habitats of threatened animal and plant species, and areas of outstanding scientific, conservation, or aesthetic value." 

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The Arquicast Interview series welcomes another major firm to the conversation. Led by three architects, all alumni of the University of Brasília (UnB)—Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho, and Matheus Seco—Bloco Arquitetos is based in Brasília, one of the country's most iconic and challenging cities. Working across various scales and programs, the firm is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach. In addition to their architectural commissions, they coordinate several initiatives aimed at promoting Brazilian architectural culture and the profession itself. Partners Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco join us to discuss this work dynamic.