+ 23

+ 28

+ 26

Bridges and walkways are horizontal circulation elements that establish physical connections between the interior or exterior spaces of a project, articulating their layout and, in some cases, bridging existing level changes. These suspended structures enhance visual connections between different levels and, through more dynamic pathways, enable the creation of intentional framing sequences.

+ 16

Patios and gardens play a crucial role in a project's planning and layout. In some instances, they serve as organizing elements while in others, they improve the quality of life in a space by providing light, ventilation, and a connection to the outdoors while maintaining the privacy of the inhabitants. 

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.

The focus of buildings should ultimately be the well-being of the people using them. When we think of our experiences in hospitals, clinics, the dentist's office, and other medical facilities, the feeling is rarely pleasant. Perhaps it's the smells, the dull, monotone colors, or the sound of medical gadgets working away on some unlucky patient. 

+ 27

+ 57

+ 19

+ 9

+ 15

Peter Zumthor, in one of his most emblematic works, gives concrete an almost sacred dimension. The work in question is the small Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, located in a small village in Germany, a construction that is both robust and sensitive. Built with white cement, which was mixed with stones and sand from the region, the chapel is composed of 24 layers of concrete that were poured day after day by local labor, and compressed in an unusual way. The building's flat and smooth exterior contrasts with its interior, which was initially made of inclined wooden logs forming a triangular void. To remove these internal forms, the logs were set on fire in a controlled process, reducing them to ash and creating a carbonized interior that varied between black and gray and retained the texture of the negatives of the logs. The result is a masterpiece of architecture, a space for reflection and transformation, in which the same material appears in diametrically opposing ways.

+ 12

+ 37

+ 24

Videos

Marcelo Morettin, partner at the firm Andrade Morettin Associados, is the sixth guest on Studio Casa, an interview series produced by Casa da Arquitectura - Portuguese Center for Architecture. A graduate of the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo, Morettin worked at the offices of Joaquim Guedes Arquitetos Associados and Marcelo Fragelli before founding his own practice in 1997.

Being admitted to a hospital means entering an experience of anxiety and uncertainty. At a moment when survival is the sole objective, aesthetic attributes seem irrelevant, and analyzing the ambience of the hospital environment might feel like an untimely indulgence.

However, being in an Intensive Care Unit can be even more distressing if patients lack a window to show whether it is day or night. Or when, during the initial diagnostic triage, one must navigate narrow corridors and a succession of closed rooms for first contact with on-duty doctors and nurses—a true labyrinth.

+ 19

Born on the 5th of May 1944 in what was at the time the French Protectorate of Morocco, French architect Christian de Portzamparc had doubts about continuing with architecture while studying in the 1960s, questioning modernist ideals and the discipline's lack of freedom compared to art. Instead, he spent a decade attempting to understand the role of architecture, before returning triumphantly with a new model of iterative urban design that emphasized open neighborhoods based around landmark "poles of attraction" and a varied series of high-profile commissions that combine a sense of purpose and place.

+ 12