Videos

"Tijolo por Tijolo" is a web series about Sesc Pompeia, Lina Bo Bardi's masterpiece. Through very short videos, viewers can explore the history of the Pompeia neighborhood and learn more about the factory that operated on the site before Sesc opened. Additionally, the series covers the repurposing and revitalization of the area and interesting details about the project designed by the Italian-Brazilian architect. In total, there are 11 episodes with exclusive content about the "Citadel of Liberty," containing historical facts, quotes from the architect, and rare photos. Watch all the videos from the series below:

The famous tube stations of Curitiba, icons of the Paranaense capital's urban development in the 1990s, will be replaced by a newer model. The goal of the City Hall and the Institute for Research and Urban Planning of Curitiba (IPPUC) is to replace twelve of these structures along the Inter 2 bus line.

The debate over materiality and how it shapes the spaces housing our entire social dimension lies at the core of architectural discourse. Although architects define a concept, a *parti*, and adhere to a program that can even influence urban life, ultimately it is everyday life and each individual's cultural repertoire that dictate how a place is experienced. The understanding that there are multiple layers in society capable of building invisible walls—which dissolve architectural poetics and unfold into other issues crucial to understanding the system in which we are embedded—is one of the reflections proposed by Nova República, a project created by anthropologist Hélio Menezes and the architects of Cape Town-based Wolff Architects for the São Paulo International Architecture Biennial.

The notion of authenticity is inseparable from theoretical discussions and actions in the field of Conservation and Restoration, and is directly related to the perception of values associated with a given cultural asset—whether tangible or intangible. Authenticity constitutes a foundational and structuring principle of the ethics that sustain and align criteria, concepts, and justifications within the realm of preservation. Like any process of cultural construction, authenticity cannot be understood or defined in absolute, pre-established terms, and its recognition is intrinsically linked to the context to which it refers—at a given time and in a given place.

Videos

The first episode of the ARQ.DOC documentary series, recently released on YouTube, explores the theme of "new aluminum" in architecture and design. Aiming to discover the stories behind architectural projects and urban interventions, the series' first season will feature 11 episodes where, alongside investigating specific themes, the producers turn their attention to the regional diversity of Brazilian architecture.

The terminology cultural property has several definitions. Found across various spheres and historical periods, the term has been gradually reshaped, with its application and meaning expanding and becoming more clearly defined over time.

Berlin is a global leader in urban mobility, according to the Mobility Futures study by data and consulting firm Kantar, which evaluated major world cities. The German capital topped the mobility ranking due to several factors, most notably more cost-effective travel and easy access to a broad public transit infrastructure network and shared mobility services.

Anyone walking through São Paulo is already accustomed to the colorful walls scattered across the capital. Generally, the graffiti that colors the city's streets is signed by men, and rarely by women. However, this scenario is changing in the city's outskirts. More and more women are bringing art to the streets, balancing motherhood with graffiti.

The steady escalation of complexity attributed to architecture and other fields of art over the past century—driven by a long process of disciplinary redefinition since the Modern era, coupled with an effervescence of experimentation and hybridization—has fostered the creation of innovative solutions designed for the human environment, while simultaneously giving rise to new challenges of categorization.

The curatorial proposal of the 12th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial, under the title Everyday (Todo Dia), aims to highlight the central role of the everyday – the most trivial dimension of reality – in 21st-century architecture and urbanism. “The discreet power of the everyday lies in its ability to translate the way we inhabit, use natural resources, and maintain space into common practices that make design relevant and a shared concern,” state the curators of this edition, Ciro Miguel, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, and Vanessa Grossman.

The design of educational spaces is perhaps one of the most compelling areas of architecture. It is also one of the fields in greatest need of development. Designing a school goes far beyond sizing classrooms and administrative areas; it involves conceiving spaces for gathering and exchange, connecting (or separating) specific areas, defining lighting and ventilation strategies, and studying color theory, to name just a few of the complexities involved.

“The following day, no one died.” Thus begins the novel Death with Interruptions, by Nobel laureate José Saramago. In it, death suspends its services and, for a time, everyone remains alive in an imaginary country. This masterly metaphor conceived by the Portuguese author, already in his final pairs of shoes, serves as the foundation for discussing the dilemmas and conflicts of the end of life.

Rosa Grena Kliass, the grand dame of Brazilian landscape architecture, received the IAB Golden Collar today in a ceremony held as part of the opening of the 12th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial. Kliass is the first woman to receive the honor, which since 1967 has recognized names such as Vilanova Artigas, Oscar Niemeyer, and Roberto Burle Marx.

In a recent analytical exercise, we examined the main narratives surrounding Brazilian inequality for an internal training program at the Pólis Institute. It came as no surprise that income occupies the center of the debate, whether in media outlets or academic studies. Our goal with this study was to understand how the Right to the City [1] can contribute to analyses of inequalities and serve as a tool of struggle to close the gap between citizens.

The Brazilian student team, comprising Luiza de Souza Santos, Marcus Barbosa, and Gabriel Thomé de Oliveira from UFMG, was awarded an honorable mention in the SkyCity Challenge 2019 international competition, which aimed to "explore sustainable ways of living, working collectively, and having fun." Learn more about their proposal below.

Brazil currently has 167,060 active, registered architects and urban planners with the Council of Architecture and Urbanism. The majority, 63.10% (105,420), are women, while 36.90% (61,640) are men (61,400). In 2018, these percentages were 62% and 38%, respectively. This predominance is expected to grow in the coming years, as the share of female students is significantly higher: 67%. 

In 2018, anyone who passed by an empty lot in the heart of Paraisópolis—São Paulo's second-largest community—on Mondays and Thursdays encountered children with dirt-dusted knees, playing with objects like tires, paper boats, and twigs in endless games. This was the Brincreto project, an initiative by the Coletivo LUB – Laboratório de Urbano de Brincadeiras.

Sculptural, elegant, and striking. Numerous adjectives can describe the stairs designed by Danish firm 3XN. With bold designs that challenge conventional vertical circulation, they add layers of inventiveness to the spatial experience, turning movement into a journey. 

The Passeia, Jardim Nakamura project is a pilot initiative focused on citizen legibility. By leveraging community engagement to build local connections, the project co-created and implemented a neighborhood signage system alongside residents of Jardim Nakamura, located in Jardim Ângela, São Paulo. The project was developed by Instituto COURB and SampaPé!, with financial support from Fundo Casa Cidades. With this proposal, the objective was to foster residents' sense of recognition of their neighborhood, while also ensuring greater comfort and safety for pedestrian mobility, encouraging spatial connection, and promoting the appropriation of local history. In this light, the initiative sought to make the territory easier to read, fostering appreciation for local history and neighborhood actors, while also mapping key locations, walking distances, and the local boundary.

The life story of São Paulo-born landscape architect Mina Klabin Warchavchik is deeply intertwined with the history of modern art and architecture in Brazil, especially in São Paulo. Her father, Maurício Freeman Klabin, a Lithuanian immigrant, had left Russia due to a decree prohibiting Jewish land ownership. Upon arriving in Brazil in the late 19th century, he began working in a workshop producing blank books for the typography market, a business he would acquire within a few years. 

Venice is undoubtedly one of the most sought-after destinations in Europe for travelers from around the world. The city boasts attractions in many areas, from gastronomy to art, and naturally, architecture—an art form deeply woven into the city's fabric, most prominently showcased at the Architecture Biennales, held since 1980. Beyond the Biennale, the island has much to offer those interested in exploring places that epitomize the relationship between past and present, the preservation of historical memory, and new technologies serving buildings in constant relation with the water.

Among the various strategies for urban design and the occupation of public spaces, complete streets are perhaps currently the most prominent. They stem from a very simple idea: making street space truly public, in the broadest sense of the word. In other words, their goal is to provide transportation options and access to as many modes of transit as possible—walking, cycling, wheelchairs, public transportation, and private cars.

The environment affects behavior, just as behavior affects the environment. This is one of the core propositions of environmental psychology, a field that studies the interrelationship between human behavior and the surrounding environment, whether built or natural. If the environment has the power to influence our choices and habits, then it is possible to design it to encourage more sustainable choices. And complete streets offer a way to do just that.

In this doctoral dissertation, architect and urban planner Gabriela Leandro Pereira explores the accounts and contested urban narratives of the writer Carolina Maria de Jesus, from Minas Gerais, Brazil. Carolina is one of the country's pioneering and most prominent Black female writers; her best-known work is the book Quarto de Despejo: Diário de Uma Favelada—the raw account of the harsh daily reality experienced by a Black woman, waste picker, and resident of the Canindé favela in São Paulo. Defended in 2015 at the Federal University of Bahia under the advisement of Professor Ana Maria Fernandes, PhD, the dissertation received the Rodrigo Simões Doctoral Dissertation Award from the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Urban and Regional Planning (ANPUR) in 2017. Read the abstract provided by the author below.