No País dos Arquitectos is a podcast created by Sara Nunes, who is also behind the architectural film production company Building Pictures. The project aims to introduce the professionals, projects, and stories behind leading contemporary Portuguese architecture. With just over 10 million inhabitants, Portugal presents a highly compelling landscape for the profession, boasting an architectural output that far exceeds what its population or territorial scale might suggest.

In this episode, Sara talks with architect João Maria Trindade about the Garducho Biological Station and the importance of preserving biodiversity. Listen to the full interview and read an excerpt of the transcript below:

If Zininho—author of the anthem of Santa Catarina’s capital—had turned his songwriting to Florianópolis's urban planning, he would certainly have reached the same conclusion: never has a poet had so much to sing about.

And with good reason: urban irregularity in Florianópolis is so widespread that reliable data on the subject only recently came to light. The city's own Director of Urban Planning estimated irregular occupations at 40% to 45% of the total. Only with the proposed Master Plan revision in late December 2021 did we learn that irregularity varies from 5.21% in the continental mainland to 81.84% in the Rio Vermelho district. Six of the thirteen districts have over 40% of their urban footprint in informal settlements, and only four remain under 20%.

Archathon is Brazil's largest creativity laboratory, where architecture and design firms develop various interior solutions for a single brief.

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National School Day was celebrated yesterday, March 15, an important date to remember and value the role of educational institutions. Spaces that foster new perspectives, knowledge, exchanges, interaction, and play must be designed to rise to the challenge. While we have previously highlighted fifteen projects designed by Brazilian architects, today we take the opportunity to showcase some of the solutions and techniques adopted in recent years when approaching this program.

On Thursday (10), the São Paulo state government announced the project for Brazil's first long-distance highway bicycle path, the Ciclovia dos Bandeirantes, along the Bandeirantes Highway.

Located between São Paulo and Itupeva, the new bicycle path will connect the state capital to the newly launched Serra Azul Tourist District in Itupeva, spanning approximately 57 kilometers. 

Working at the intersection of architectural and social projects, Grupo ][ Fresta was one of the practices recognized by the 2021 IAB Awards in the Urbanism, Planning, and Cities category. The highlighted project proposes a set of infrastructure alongside cultural and community facilities across 12 Guarani and Tupi villages, spread over 24,000 hectares of land south of the country's largest city.

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Gender inequality in the practice of architecture is the result of a multifaceted process, within which the role of narratives woven daily by journalism remains understudied. Here, we present how two female architects were portrayed by Rio de Janeiro's daily press in the 1950s, aiming to examine how their professional image was constructed in a way that was inseparable from their personal lives.   

Today is World Water Day, established in 1992 by the United Nations (UN) to broaden discussions surrounding this resource. As drinking water becomes increasingly valuable, we present three architectural design alternatives to save and make better use of water in your home.

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Italian Design Day (IDD), created by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, reaches its sixth edition in 2022 and will be celebrated in Brazil with an online event on March 23. The event is promoted by the Italian Cultural Institutes of São Paulo (IIC-SP) and Rio de Janeiro (IIC Rio), with institutional support from the Embassy of Italy in Brasília and the Italian consular network in Brazil. The event is held in collaboration with the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED).

Streets are the foundational public spaces of cities and the ultimate hubs of convergence. Where streets meet, plazas, squares, and parks emerge. Everything flows through our streets, and their quality determines people's access to employment, education, healthcare, and leisure. Yet a brief look at major Brazilian cities reveals a clear prioritization of motorized vehicles over other modes of transport. In São Paulo, for instance, 41% of sidewalks do not meet the minimum width required by law.

No País dos Arquitectos is a podcast created by Sara Nunes, who also runs the architectural film production company Building Pictures. The podcast aims to showcase the professionals, projects, and stories behind landmark contemporary Portuguese architecture. With just over 10 million inhabitants, Portugal is a fascinating country when it comes to this professional field, and its architectural output punches far above its population and territorial scale.

In this episode, Sara talks with architect António Cerejeira Fontes, from the firm Cerejeira Fontes Architects, about the Imaculada and Cheia de Graça Chapels in Braga, northern Portugal. Listen to the full interview and read an excerpt of the conversation below:

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A small community of tiny homes has been built in Seattle, Washington, with the goal of helping homeless women transition back into stable shelter. What makes the project even more remarkable is that Whittier Heights Village was built entirely by female volunteers.

The site is tucked away between a bank parking lot and a four-story apartment complex in the Ballard neighborhood. The fenced-in lot features 16 tiny homes capable of temporarily sheltering up to 20 women at a time.

In December 2021, a young woman born and raised in the Colombo favela arrived in Bogotá, Colombia. With a stamped passport, trembling hands, and a mix of fear and joy, she took her first steps into the unknown—embracing change and learning beyond familiar borders, and realizing her first study exchange, a dream that until recently had seemed far out of reach.

For about two months, this would be my home—a place once marked by violence, bloodshed, and insecurity, in what is still considered one of the most unequal countries in the world.

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