Today marks the beginning of another phase of work on the building that serves as a symbol of Brazilian Modernism, the Gustavo Capanema Palace, in downtown Rio de Janeiro. This will be the final stage of a series of interventions carried out on the building by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan), ensuring its complete restoration and emphasizing its importance as an architectural icon.

Since 1980, with the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to architecture, titled The Presence of the Past and directed by Paolo Portoghesi, the Venice Biennale has positioned itself as a turning point in the history of contemporary architecture. Since then, 16 editions have occupied the spaces of the Giardini and the Arsenale, addressing themes ranging from the fundamental elements of architecture to the future of the discipline.

Anyone who has ever taken an interest in mobility knows that the advent of the car brought about several major changes to the built environment of cities and to people's lives. These transformations have been, and continue to be, widely discussed across various fields of study. In history, for instance, the car serves as a lens for the period of industrialization; in engineering, it is key to engine technology; and in urban planning, it is studied for its role in the process of urbanization. From its invention to the present day, the car has continuously gained ground and become increasingly ubiquitous in streets and buildings, embedding itself into daily life and the popular imagination.

Sometimes, residential projects are structured around specific elements of the brief, exploring their sculptural potential as a defining feature of the design. Swimming pools are a compelling case in point: they often become the focal point of a project, allowing for a high degree of creativity and inventiveness while seamlessly bridging landscape and architectural design.

On Wednesday evening, October 9, the late Briane Panitz Bicca—an architect and urban planner from Rio Grande do Sul widely recognized as a leading figure in the preservation of Brazilian historical and cultural heritage—was honored during the opening ceremony of the 21st Brazilian Congress of Architects (CBA).

Because bathrooms are wet areas with highly specific uses, choosing floor and wall finishes can often feel daunting. In this guide, we round up some of the most widely used materials, outlining their advantages and disadvantages.

Architecture, as construction, has many ways to express itself. Ideas can be conveyed through programmatic organization and the materials used; we can communicate through the rhythm of facades and openings; and we can deliver a message through the transparency or opacity of the volumes and surfaces we design. We can also express ourselves through structure and its arrangement—and this is perhaps the facet of architecture we most eagerly seek to explore. 

Few historical events have been as pivotal to the history of architecture and urbanism as the Industrial Revolution. To accommodate the productive framework that transformed capitalism starting in the 18th century, an entire spatial system was created. Beyond factories, this network included raw material processing plants, power generation and distribution hubs, warehouses, and transport terminals. In urban terms, this process did not merely allocate large swaths of land to industrial activities; it triggered a multisystemic transformation that reshaped how people lived, occupied, and moved within the urban environment.

The formal configuration of open space systems in Brazilian cities—whether qualified or not—derives a significant contribution from private developments, since public urban planning and design have historically been the exception.

On one side, an underground market; on the other, a restaurant and a cocktail bar. Terminus, as Paris's newest gastronomic center will be named, will repurpose a decommissioned subway station in the French capital's 6th arrondissement, with operations spanning both sides of the tracks.

At the end of each year, we launch a call for submissions for graduation thesis projects from our readers in Portuguese-speaking countries. Through this, we aim to select the projects we find most interesting in order to share inspiring perspectives and discussions with our entire audience.

In this edition, we received 333 proposals from all over Brazil and several Portuguese cities. The selection of these projects is based on those we consider best presented, visually compelling, and whose theme we find thought-provoking and timely for a graduation thesis. More than simply delivering a satisfactory design, we believe that a final graduation project—by condensing the student's efforts during a transition period from academia to professional life (while, it is important to note, still being part of the academic journey)—must raise questions and spark discussion about the proposed theme.

It is worth noting that several submissions did not follow the guidelines and were either disqualified or provided insufficient material for evaluation.

Below is our selection* of the 32 best final graduation projects from Portuguese-speaking countries, accompanied by descriptions provided by their authors.

Daniel Flavin was a key figure of the minimalist art movement of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. The term was first coined by philosopher Richard Wollheim in his 1965 essay “Minimal Art” to categorize works that, like Duchamp's ready-mades, did not seek to represent an external reality; instead, the exhibited object was to be understood as a work in its own right, and the viewer's experience was not meant to rely on external associations.

The global need to find more sustainable ways to meet new demands is one of the most compelling catalysts for the reuse of materials or structures in contemporary architecture. In the field of scenography, repurposing materials to construct stage sets has long been a reality. Professional practice in this field deals with the representation of a scene, using temporary elements designed to stimulate the spectator's imagination. In this context, the work of scenographer Renata Mota has paired repurposing with the reuse of materials—either discarded or donated—that have lost their original function, using them to craft sets for performances, exhibitions, and other events.

Although Juscelino Kubitschek is remembered for executing the project for Brasília, he was not its creator. The political will to build a new capital in the country's interior dates back to 1808, driven by the desire to elevate Brazil's international standing and symbolize its post-independence development. This developmentalist ethos, or rather the pursuit of the new, underpinned the arguments of most advocates for the relocation, each proposing a different approach.

The Atlas of Urban Expansion platform uses maps, satellite imagery, and spatial change data to showcase the growth of hundreds of cities worldwide. Developed since 2012 by New York University, UN-Habitat, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the primary goal of the Atlas is to analyze performance and identify trends in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

Developer Weefor has announced the results of its first open architecture competition, which aimed to select an architectural design for the company's first residential development in the city of Curitiba. The competition's grand prize winner is the firm Nachtergaele Navarro Arquitetos Associados, from São Paulo, whose project is scheduled to begin construction in the first half of 2020.

International Expositions originated in the nineteenth century, when London (1851) hosted the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. This event gathered manufactured goods from various countries to showcase technological—and later, industrial—advancements, marking a moment of convergence and shared initiatives from around the globe.

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Housing for the low-income urban population is a central concern for contemporary Brazilian policymakers and urbanists. Over the last few decades, by focusing on building social housing complexes in peripheral areas lacking transit and sanitation infrastructure, the state has actively contributed to worsening the problem.

Architects and urban planners evaluated the services offered by CAU/BR and the state-level CAU/UFs. Out of nine services analyzed by the professionals, seven received an average score above 7 on a scale of zero to 10. These and other findings are part of the CAU Evaluation Survey conducted by the Datafolha Institute in May. The study interviewed 1,500 architects and urban planners and 500 architecture and urban planning firms by telephone to assess the effectiveness of the Council's communication channels with professionals and society, as well as to gather information to support initiatives ensuring access to the entity's information.

The streets of Los Angeles will serve as a testing ground for a new asphalt compound made from recycled plastic. Developed by TechniSoil Industrial, the material incorporates plastic waste that would typically be discarded, mixing it with recycled asphalt reclaimed directly from the streets.

Through their narrative forms, architecture exhibitions promote the dissemination of knowledge and inquiries within the theory and practice of the discipline. Beyond the direct appreciation of a specific object or architectural ensemble by experiencing that space, architecture exhibitions present content structured through narrative paths, classifications, associations, or juxtapositions. This expands architectural knowledge, if not through in-situ experience, then through the way graphic materials are displayed. In this light, curatorial and exhibition design practices can foster new questions in the field of architecture, encouraging visitors to engage in critical reflection.

For some time now, cycling infrastructure planning has become a priority for several countries around the world seeking to seriously mitigate the challenges of rapid urbanization. In this regard, it is worth looking at which countries are expanding their cycling networks and understanding the development patterns established for each of them. OpenCycleMap is a project that makes it possible to clearly identify these countries and analyze their networks in great detail.

One of the most significant contributions of modern architecture to global practice was the five points proposed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. This set of guidelines represented the formal expression of the ideals and principles of contemporary architectural thought, finding its paradigmatic application in the Villa Savoye, the iconic residence designed by the modern master in Poissy, France.

An Italian architect who adopted Brazil, broke down hierarchies between the arts, and shaped a new language of modernism—merging her own radical vision with references from Brazilian culture—will be the subject of an exhibition this April at MASP. In 2020, the show will travel to Mexico and the US.