Aiming to train graduate professionals from various fields of knowledge over a 24-month period to work in the field of cultural heritage preservation, the Professional Master's Program in Cultural Heritage Preservation of the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) has launched the call for applications for 10 fellowship positions. Interested applicants can apply until March 1, 2019.

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale has announced the Catalan practice Bonell+Dòriga, founded by the young architect duo Laura Bonell and Daniel López-Dòriga, as the winner of the third edition of the Début Award. The firm gained recognition for the work compiled on the platform A Series of Rooms, which presents an extensive, multidisciplinary study of domestic spaces and the archetypes of habitation.

A house, likely from the 1950s, featuring a clothesline near a three-basin laundry sink, a bathroom with large tiles covered in rugs, and a kitchen filled with food. A middle-class family home in Barretos, in the interior of the state of São Paulo. This house stands as the protagonist in the narrative proposed by the series "Maria, José e menino" by São Paulo-based photographer Marina Schiesari.

Based on the 2010 Census, Nexo Jornal developed a series of maps of Brazil that reveal densely occupied and urbanized portions of the territory alongside others that are virtually uninhabited. For the study, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) divided the country into about 13 million squares of approximately 40,000 m² and counted the number of inhabitants in each.

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The exhibition “Vkhutemas: The Future in Construction 1918-1930,” curated by Neide Jallageas and Celso Lima, opens at Sesc Rio Preto, where it runs until July 21, 2019. The anti-exhibition reconstructs around 300 projects by 75 artists and aims to explore the pedagogy of the Soviet school of art, design, and architecture as a possibility for the future. An acronym for the State Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops, Vkhutemas opened in 1928, shortly after the Soviet revolution, and was closed in 1930 by Stalin.

The firms Bruno Cabral Arquitetura, RGB Estudio and Jakelyne Martins Arquitetura were awarded second place in the national competition for the new headquarters of the Association of Engineers and Architects of Sorocaba (AEAS). Discover the proposal below, accompanied by the project description.

From nostalgic parquet flooring to more sophisticated wood species, timber is a material capable of providing a high degree of comfort when used as a floor finish in architectural projects. Beyond its obvious aesthetic appeal, its characteristics contribute to a welcoming ambiance and can also meet acoustic and thermal comfort parameters, which explains why the material is so prevalent in residential design.

A desperate child screams in the middle of Dom José Gaspar Square in downtown São Paulo, pleading for them not to hurt her mother. She cries as she watches her being forcibly dragged by municipal agents from the cart where she sold fruit daily to the square's patrons. Her mother cries as well, trying to explain to the agents that the fruit and the cart were all she had to support her daughter. Moved, onlookers watch the scene and try to reason with the subdistrict officials, but they keep confiscating the goods—after all, “orders are orders.” 

But what is the “order” that governs public spaces? 

The theme of children's absence in the contemporary city, and the search for solutions that enable their mobility with greater autonomy and playfulness, guided a study of about 130 children, aged 7 to 12, from different social backgrounds, residing in the Consolação district of São Paulo. After walking, talking, and drawing with the children to map an ideal route between the local square and school, an intervention proposal [2] was developed, weaving together the Vila Buarque and Higienópolis neighborhoods, aimed at bringing children out to play in groups, outdoors, every day.

According to the 2016 report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), there are 881 million people living in slums in cities across the developing world, and it is estimated that by 2025, another 1.6 billion people will likely need adequate and affordable housing. In light of these projections, there has been much discussion about Social Interest Housing (referred to as HIS in Brazil) and how projects in this field can help address the housing deficit. But what, exactly, does this term mean?

The second edition of the award, a partnership between the Tomie Ohtake Institute and Leroy Merlin, has extended its registration deadline. Until October 15, university students from any field can submit design projects related to product, furniture, fashion, interiors, landscape, web, graphic, and service design, among others, under the theme CIRCULAR.

The gradual transition from CAD to BIM in architecture firms worldwide, and particularly in Brazil, brings numerous benefits to the design process, from reducing the working hours spent on each project to facilitating the coordination of different disciplines.

However, to fully leverage these benefits, it is essential to have access to BIM families that meet specific design requirements. To simplify the search for this content, the online platform Família BIM offers over 800 families for free download upon registering on the website.

The results of the international student competition to design the Czech Republic Embassy in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, organized through a partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Department of Architecture at CTU (Czech Technical University) in Prague, were recently announced. The Brazilian team, comprising Augusto Longarine, Luiz Sakata, and Teo Butenas Santos from FAU USP, was named a finalist among 281 proposals from 38 different countries.

There is something compelling about the way air—an incredibly fleeting and invisible medium—can shape a wide variety of forms. This fascination has captured our imagination since childhood, when we were first drawn to the lightness, color, playfulness, and variety of inflatables.

Occupying rooftops is an ancient practice; however, it was only with the Modern Movement and Le Corbusier's five points of architecture that the "fifth facade" began to be explored to its full potential. Pilotis, a free plan, ribbon windows, and a free facade combined with the rooftop garden to establish the guidelines for this new architecture. While Modernism as a universal language collapsed, many of its principles endure in contemporary architecture.

Portuguese firm MASS lab, led by architects Diogo Rocha, Duarte Fontes, and Lourenço Rodrigues, has been announced as the winner of the Ideas Competition for the Former Monte Pedral Barracks, organized by the Porto City Council, Portugal. The winning design combines a new network of public spaces with a variety of housing typologies, forming a sort of archipelago in the middle of the city: a set of urban islands that structure the urban fabric, where the relationship of proximity prioritizes the space in-between—a space that will be filled by time and people.

Developed by researchers from the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Bahia (UFBA), Cronologia do Pensamento Urbanístico is an online platform active since 2003 that brings together historical events, projects, key facts, and publications related to the history of urbanism in Brazil and worldwide.

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The 5th edition of Portugal's PNAM (National Wood Architecture Prize) was awarded on November 8 at the Monastery of Alcobaça. Organized by the Association of Wood and Furniture Industries of Portugal (AIMMP), the Portuguese Chamber of Architects (OA), and the Portuguese Construction and Real Estate Confederation (CPCI), the biennial award is open to Portuguese architects who choose wood as a primary material for their projects.

Discover the award-winning projects below. 

After winning the 12th Competition for Architecture Students of the Brazilian Steel Construction Center (CBCA), students Bruna Barbosa and Lino Mendonça, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), took first place in the 12th Alacero Competition for Architecture Students, organized by the Latin American Steel Association (Alacero).

We can initially understand the concept of revitalization as a design practice or a socio-spatial process strategically led by specific groups associated with contemporary urban planning. The structuring of the contemporary city depends, according to Meyer (2000), on large-scale strategic urban projects. The strategic value of such projects, according to the author, hinges on their ability to trigger significant transformations in metropolitan space, enhancing its attractiveness and influence. Rather than simply offering localized and specific urban improvements, contemporary urban planning reveals itself, through the intentions of its proponents, as an instrument capable of promoting the cohesion of the metropolitan territory and organizing flows to prevent functional and spatial dispersion.

The City of Florianópolis and the Santa Catarina State Government plan to inaugurate the first phase of the urban redevelopment project for the famous Hercílio Luz Bridge and its surroundings by the end of the year. Named Ponte Viva: Hercílio Luz Para as Pessoas (Living Bridge: Hercílio Luz for People), the project encompasses not only the restructuring of the iconic landmark as road infrastructure, but also its activation for other uses, such as sports, leisure, and culture.

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has released the 2019 edition of its annual ranking of the world's top universities in the field of architecture. This year, UCL (University College London) took the lead, a position held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States for the past four editions.

In Latin America, institutions from Chile, Brazil, and Mexico occupy the top three spots, respectively. See the top 10 below: 

The Brazilian delegation from the Special Secretariat for Culture of the Ministry of Citizenship and the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan) on a mission to Portugal has brought updates regarding Cultural Heritage. In May 2019, the European country will host an exchange mission with Brazilian city managers, mayors, and tourism trade representatives. The goal is to study benchmarks in Portuguese Interpretation Centers to bring models to the 13 Brazilian cities that host World Heritage cultural sites.

In Brazil, an increasing number of people are choosing to live in apartments rather than houses. Mirroring this trend, the supply of residential buildings with diverse floor plans and typologies has grown at a similar pace. In this context, and aiming to evoke the feeling of a standalone house, developers are increasingly offering lofts and duplex apartments. These layouts foster spatial openness, functional design, and enhanced natural light and ventilation through large openings and glass expanses. Additionally, double-height ceilings establish a visual connection between different floors, among other features that provide greater comfort to residents.