When thinking of galleries, museums, and exhibition spaces in general, the image of an enclosed, well-lit room with white walls and a neutral floor—likely made of wood—commonly comes to mind. The notion of designing exhibition spaces as "pure" environments, whether to focus on the artwork itself or to facilitate the rotation of exhibitions, has perhaps been the dominant guiding principle in the creation of these spaces over the last few decades. However, just as art transforms space, space can also be a transformative agent for art. This shifting perspective gave rise to artistic productions conceived for specific venues, widely known as site-specific installations.

+ 2

Videos

Within the scope of The Poetics of Reason, this year's Lisbon Architecture Triennale explores the nexus between Agriculture and Architecture, two complementary fields that emerged around 10,000 years ago during the Neolithic Revolution and, later, in the Anthropocene. Given the current environmental crisis, the core hypothesis of the exhibition Taking the Country's Side: Agriculture and Architecture, curated by Sébastien Marot, is that no consistent thinking can develop in the future of either discipline unless they are once again allied and fundamentally reconsidered together.

The open call Outros Territórios – International Call for Urban Intervention Projects has selected the seven finalists of the program's first stage. All will be presented in an exhibition at Viaduto das Artes, an intriguing cultural space in the Barreiro region installed under two overpasses and aligned with the call's general concept of exploring possibilities for activating urban gaps.

In Asunção, Paraguay, the XI Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism announced today the winners of the Panorama of Works section for this edition of the event, "all faithful to the spirit of the XI BIAU: inhabiting, the inhabitant," according to the organizers.

Out of 997 projects in Latin America, 17 architectural works—predominantly for collective use—built in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay, and Venezuela were awarded.

A common choice for commercial and corporate buildings, mirrored facades often evoke mixed feelings among architects, frequently leaning toward the negative. There is no shortage of arguments against them, and they generally hold merit—citing everything from the decline of modern architecture and the homogenization of its glass facades to climate concerns and a disregard for local context reflected in these surfaces.

The year 1932 is a milestone in the history of Céará. One of the worst droughts ever recorded devastated the sertão, leading to scenes already immortalized in classics of Brazilian literature—such as Vidas Secas by Graciliano Ramos and O Quinze by Rachel de Queiroz: drought refugees forced to leave their homes to escape hunger and misery.

Projects working to preserve and promote Brazilian Cultural Heritage can now access the official guidelines to participate in this year's Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade Award. Globally recognized for its cultural diversity, Brazil is a country whose identity reflects the influence of various groups that helped shape Brazilian society. For 32 years, the Rodrigo Award, organized by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan), has encouraged and recognized those who work to preserve the country's cultural assets.

Applications are now open for the 6th Instituto Tomie Ohtake AkzoNobel Architecture Prize. The initiative continues to map contemporary architectural production by highlighting, for the sixth consecutive year, significant projects built in the current Brazilian landscape that demonstrate a commitment to their site and sustainability, as well as design and constructive inventiveness. 

On October 19, a workshop on implementing an ecological sanitation system will be held. The event will take place in São Paulo's South Zone and is open to anyone interested. The workshop is organized by the social-environmental project cooperative Sapiência Ambiental in partnership with the UFABC Agroecology Center.

Videos

Escola da Cidade has shared with us a lecture series on Japanese Architecture and Culture, which is part of the Estúdio Deriva program. This series features the following lectures: "Ambience Without Hierarchy: SANAA and Electronic Music" with Guilherme Wisnik, "Contemporary Japanese Culture" with Gabriel Kogan, "The Professional Practice of Japanese Architects" with Lourenço Gimenes, "A Graphical Analysis of Toyo Ito's Mediatheques" with Marina Lacerda, "Destroy to Build: The Impact of Tokyo's Reconstruction Plans in Akira" with Beatriz Oliveira, "Jidai no nagare, the Flow of Eras: Japanese Wood Joinery" with Heloisa Ikeda, and "The Tōkaidō Road: Travel, Woodblock Prints, and Cities of the Tokugawa Period (1603-1868)" with Fernanda Sakano. Watch all the lectures here.

Great ideas can change the destiny of cities forever when implemented in concrete, steel, and stone. When Saint Petersburg, Russia, was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, he envisioned the new capital as an emblem of a modern Russian empire, inspired by Western European commercial hubs like Amsterdam. In the 20th century, Chandigarh, India, was shaped as an English "garden city" to demonstrate progress and aspirations of prosperity in post-partition India. Halfway across the world in the United States, Detroit transformed into one of the world's industrial megacities, shaped by the ideals of the American Dream and Henry Ford's visionary production.

In highly urbanized areas, high land costs and competition for access to urban infrastructure make semi-detached buildings a common sight, particularly in residential zones. Almost always built along an axis of symmetry, they form pairs or rows of multiple homes which, besides lowering construction and design costs, optimize land use.

Here, we select ten Brazilian semi-detached houses that showcase different design strategies for addressing urban constraints.

+ 17

In April, UMAPaz is offering a course aimed at individuals who want to learn more about sustainability applied to architecture and construction projects, including small renovations. With an introductory approach, it seeks to clarify concepts of sustainable construction for anyone interested in the topic, without requiring prior knowledge.

One of Italy's most important culinary hubs, Bologna is aiming to encourage its residents to adopt cycling, public transit, or simply walking as their primary means of transportation—leaving their cars at home. To achieve this, the city has launched an incentive program. 

The urban public space between two architectural masses is defined as a street. It is where we establish the relationship between motorized vehicles, non-motorized transport, and pedestrians. In managing this relationship, public space requires a series of systems to guarantee active occupancy, in addition to infrastructure and safety. Consequently, the proper design of roadways and their immediate public surroundings becomes essential. Beyond what meets the eye, water, gas, electricity, and telecommunications networks are laid out beneath our feet, completely unnoticed.

One of the most distinctive features of Padua’s urban structure is its network of porticos and covered galleries, which organize pathways and open up to define plazas—public spaces for community gathering.

Led by the Portuguese duo Isabel Ruas and Gonçalo Ruas, the studio Oficina de Mosaicos will create a mosaic reinterpretation of the work War and Peace, the monumental panel painted by Candido Portinari and donated to the UN in 1956. The piece will be permanently displayed at the USP campus in Butantã. The project has the support of the artist's son, João Portinari, and is currently in its fundraising phase.

Videos

Discovering the stories behind architectural projects and urban interventions is the premise of ARQ.DOC, a new series set to premiere in January 2019 on YouTube. Produced in a documentary format, the episodes explore the creative diversity of Brazilian architecture.

On December 15, we celebrate "Architect's Day." While this date is an opportunity for celebrations and tributes to the profession, it also serves as an occasion to reflect on what the practice of architecture and urbanism in Brazil is—and what it could be. At this time of year, it is also common to take stock of the past and look toward the future. Therefore, let us take this opportunity to reflect on our professional practice and our role as architects, asking: "Where were you in December 2017, and what were you doing then?"

André Schmitt, one of the most respected architects in the state of Santa Catarina, passed away this Thursday (12). Schmitt served as Secretary of Tourism in the 1980s and was a frequent collaborator of the IPUF (Florianópolis Urban Planning Institute), actively participating in public discussions and contributing his knowledge to society. On Florianópolis' anniversary in 2018, he received the Virgílio Várzea Medal of Merit, an honor awarded by the Legislative Assembly of Santa Catarina.

Impact measurement is an indispensable step for a Complete Street to be successfully implemented and to truly meet the needs of the population. Since there is no single model for a Complete Street, this process is even more necessary: to ensure that different interventions are effective and positive, it is essential to understand the before-and-after scenarios of the changes and evaluate the project's impacts in practice.

The construction industry drives considerable economic activity worldwide, generating countless jobs and substantial revenue. At the same time, it also carries significant negative impacts, ranging from the depletion of natural resources to high levels of waste generation during both construction and demolition phases. To put this in perspective, in Brazil, Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) is estimated to account for 61% of all waste generated, while household waste represents 28% [1].

+ 4

The word “gentrificação” is the Portuguese rendering of the English term gentrification, first used, in all likelihood, by British sociologist Ruth Glass in her book London: Aspects of Change (1964), where the author described and analyzed certain changes in the spatial organization of the city of London. The term gained popularity after its use in academic works on the subject, accompanying an urban phenomenon present across various periods and spaces: the gradual or sudden displacement of residents and users living in precarious conditions from a given street, urban area, or neighborhood to another location, making way for the appropriation by residents and users of higher economic and cultural status.

Portuguese architectural video production company Building Pictures, directed by Sara Nunes, has shared with us a visual narrative focusing on the Afife House, designed by Guilherme Machado Vaz.

The video, titled Somewhere in Afife, begins by contextualizing the house within the landscapes of Portugal's North Coast, gradually drawing closer until we enter the interior of a compact, vertical volume that, in the architect's words, “evokes the essence of a traditional construction type in Minho.”