Collage showing Lina Bo Bardi in the Bowl chair holding a copy of "Des-Habitat." Courtesy of Paulo Tavares
Between the 1950s and 1960s, Lina Bo Bardi was the editor of Habitat magazine, known for publishing articles and research on the cultural and artistic expressions of Indigenous peoples. The publication, which remained in circulation until 1965, was a pioneer of the synthesis between universal modernism and local primitivism—a central element in the mythology of Brazilian modernity. Nearly six decades later, architect and curator Paulo Tavares undertakes a sort of "un-editing" of the magazine, putting this notion of synthesis into perspective in light of contemporary debates exploring the intersection of modernity and colonialism. Recently published by n-1 edições, Des-Habitat utilizes graphic and editorial devices to create a near-facsimile of the original publication led by Bo Bardi, overlaying a new layer—critical, revisionist, and necessary—onto a discussion that continues to reveal new ramifications.
Construction of the Campanhã Intermodal Terminal / Nuno Brandão Costa. Source: Porto.pt
With the goal of introducing the architects, projects, and stories behind landmark Portuguese architecture, Sara Nunes, from the architectural film production company Building Pictures, launched the podcastNo País dos Arquitectos, where she talks with leading figures of contemporary Portuguese architecture.
In this week's episode, Sara talks with Nuno Brandão Costa about the Campanhã Intermodal Terminal project in Porto. You can catch up on other interviews from the No País dos Arquitectos podcast and read the transcript of the interview with Costa below:
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Photo by Alessio Maffeis, via Unsplash
Everything built through human physical and intellectual labor carries meaning. It is within physical matter that we find the remains of ancient civilizations, and through these records, we understand their characteristics, the technologies involved, and their social organization. Cities and major urban centers hold layers upon layers of events recorded in their streets, buildings, plazas, and parks. Often, depending on the development of the place, this evidence is gradually erased, disregarded, and altered.
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Still from "PMR 29’: twenty-nine minutes with Paulo Mendes da Rocha".
In the early hours of May 23, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, the Capixaba architect who earned the highest honors in world architecture, passed away. Defined by a sharp, critical mind, his entire career was a profound ode to the city and a humanist perspective. Fortunately, several of his inspiring talks were recorded, and here we have selected five videos made over the last decade that offer insight into how he reflected on the field of architecture and urbanism, as well as his own work.
The Fondazione Teatro dell'architettura has announced the architecture firm Al Borde (Ecuador) as the winner of the 2024 BancaStato Swiss Architectural Award. Founded in Quito by Pascual Gangotena, David Barragán, Maríaluisa Borja, and Esteban Benavides, Al Borde conceives a collective approach to design and construction, paying special attention to climate variables, the involvement of local communities, traditional construction techniques, and innovation. As they state, Al Borde“inhabits the territory of questioning, where certainties about what architecture should or should not be are constantly under construction.”
No País dos Arquitectos é um podcast criado por Sara Nunes, responsável também pela produtora de filmes de arquitetura Building Pictures, que tem como objetivo conhecer os profissionais, os projetos e as histórias por trás da arquitetura portuguesa contemporânea de referência. Com pouco mais de 10 milhões de habitantes, Portugal é um país muito instigante em relação a este campo profissional, e sua produção arquitetônica não faz jus à escala populacional ou territorial.
No episódio desta semana, Sara conversa com os arquitetos Cristina Veríssimo e Diogo Burnay sobre o projeto da Residência Universitária do campus da Ajuda na Universidade de Lisboa. Ouça a entrevista e leia a transcrição da conversa, a seguir:
Brussels Pavilion 1958 / Sérgio Bernardes. Image via Bernardes Arquitetura
Architecture is a discipline that connects diverse fields and practices, manifesting in the physical and theoretical conceptualization of strategies for intervening in the human environment. This spatial intervention involves applying artistic, social, and technological knowledge which, when combined, inevitably reflect a given culture or dominant ideology. In this sense, architecture is also an image that conveys meaning.
The Solar Kitchen community kitchen in Auroville, an ecovillage in southern India with a population of 3,000. Photo by Luiza Tripoli
In many ways, observing rural areas and their communities can offer valuable lessons for implementing sustainable dynamics in cities. By studying ecovillages specifically, key aspects of the relationship between humans and the biosphere become clear—particularly in a space of central importance to all of them: the kitchen.
In Western capitalist culture, the dichotomy between nature and humanity is stark. Humans shape their identity as something external to nature, and more often than not, superior to it. As a result of this conceptual rupture, spatial divides also emerge. The city is seen as a human product, where residents must seek out remnants of nature in parks or plazas to connect with it. "Voids" of human occupation, such as forests, are viewed as gaps—spaces that humanity has yet to transform.
Years ago, the construction industry was among the most technologically lagging; today, however, we can confidently say that automation is here to stay.
A capsule-based transportation system that runs on magnetic propulsion, moving people and cargo at speeds of up to 1,200 km/h using renewable energy, could soon become a reality in Brazil. This futuristic concept is being brought to the country by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT), which develops and licenses the Hyperloop—the urban mobility technology originally conceived by Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Resembling a wingless aircraft without turbines, the Hyperloop has a capacity of up to 50 passengers and operates in a low-pressure environment, allowing it to travel at high speeds with virtually zero friction.
“Since the Industrial Revolution, assembly lines have dictated a world made of parts, framing the imagination of architects and designers who were trained to think of their projects as the result of pieces with distinct functions.” These were the words of Israeli architect and MIT Media Lab researcher Neri Oxman during her TED Talk entitled “Design at the intersection of technology and biology.”
Oxman emphasizes that our traditional way of building has remained unchanged for millennia and must be reinvented. Indeed, we have been taught to construct buildings and cities in a rationalized, piecemeal manner, without considering the whole. To this day, this logic is still taught in universities.
Crises typically spark shifts in how we move. Post-war prosperity turned the automobile into a household staple and a lifestyle. The global fiscal and oil crises of the 1970s brought a short-lived bicycle boom alongside a withdrawal of municipal funds from public transit. Meanwhile, the 2008 financial crisis paved the way for Silicon Valley venture capital to surge, backing new platforms like Uber and Waze.
No País dos Arquitectos is a podcast created by Sara Nunes, who also runs the architectural film production company Building Pictures. The podcast aims to showcase the professionals, projects, and stories behind landmark contemporary Portuguese architecture. With just over 10 million inhabitants, Portugal is a highly compelling country in this professional field, and its architectural output far exceeds what its population or territorial scale would suggest.
Leuven Station, Belgium. Photo by Bernard Hermant, via Unsplash
The Brazilian Center for Steel Construction (CBCA) has launched its 2021 call for proposals for its Undergraduate Research Scholarship. The nationwide selection process is open to undergraduate students in architecture and civil engineering, who must be supported by an advising professor from the same higher education institution.
Red House. Photo by Ethan Doyle White, via Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
William Morris was one of the leading figures of the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement. Guided by his political ideals, his practice spanned architecture, decoration, and design, eventually extending to writing—always striving to foster workplaces as spaces of pleasure and contemplation.
In Jacques Tati's classic film *Mon Oncle* (1958), the house—as the scenographic embodiment of the "machine for living"—is the protagonist. Its technological devices, occasionally untameable, dictate the rules. The homeowner, Madame Arpel, is a typical technocentrist, marveling at the technology surrounding her and believing it to be the solution to all her daily problems. In contrast to Madame Arpel is her brother, Mr. Hulot, who arrives for a visit and struggles to cope with all this innovation. Throughout his stay, we are introduced to a house that proves to be highly complex, while simultaneously denying the user any control.
Primeiro lugar: Síntese Arquitetura. Image Cortesia de Secretaria Nacional de Habitação/MDR e Agência Alemã de Cooperação Internacional – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)
To bring together innovative, sustainable social housing architectural designs that reduce energy consumption. This was the goal of the National Competition of Architectural Ideas for Energy Efficiency in Social Housing, organized by the German government cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
Liceu Pasteur is a public institution under private law that is part of the network of French schools abroad, present in 135 countries. In São Paulo, it has been located on Mairinque Street, in the Vila Mariana neighborhood, since 1923, occupying a building designed by Escritório Técnico Ramos de Azevedo, which is listed by São Paulo's municipal heritage preservation agency.
In urban planning, population density is a subject that sparks discussion, doubt, and debate. A common point of confusion, for instance, is conflating built density (the amount of built area in a given location) or even building height with population density (the number of residents in a given location).
In New York, for example, Midtown Manhattan has perhaps the city's highest concentration of skyscrapers, despite having a population density of "only" 18,000 residents/km²—less than half of the Upper West Side, which boasts 44,000 residents/km² with lower but predominantly residential buildings, whereas Midtown has fewer residential buildings. In Brazil, this discrepancy is far more extreme: the densest neighborhoods in major Brazilian cities tend to be the most horizontal, as they consist of informal settlements (favelas) with small housing units, minimal space between structures, and larger families living in (or cohabiting) these units.
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Low-speed zones are a key solution for effective speed management and for creating more accessible and livable urban spaces. Photo: WRI México/Flickr
As the Covid-19 pandemic altered urban landscapes and drew more people toward active mobility, there is a heightened urgency to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Many cities are now tasked with protecting the most vulnerable users, while also creating safe public spaces that enable economic recovery and allow people to enjoy the outdoors. At the same time, there are long-term reasons to support this transition.
“Walking and cycling are among the most sustainable ways to get around cities – but not if they are extremely dangerous options,” says Claudia Adriazola-Steil, interim director of Urban Mobility and director of Health & Road Safety at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
https://www.archdaily.com/1128095/low-speed-zones-save-lives-how-to-design-an-effective-oneNikita Luke e Siba El-Samra
The Neighborhood Plan is an urban planning tool that encourages residents to propose initiatives to improve their neighborhoods. It was established in São Paulo by the Strategic Master Plan municipal law with the goals of aligning local issues with the city's broader structural demands, identifying the need for public, social, and recreational facilities in neighborhoods, strengthening the local economy, and fostering job opportunities.
A year and a half of the global coronavirus pandemic has—or should have—made everyone realize the importance of national public health systems. Never before has a health crisis and its impact on society, the economy, and public spaces been so widely discussed and reported.
Against this backdrop, to celebrate spaces dedicated to physical and mental health, we have compiled a selection of small- and medium-scale healthcare clinics, medical offices, and therapy centers. These projects, designed for treatment or prevention, prioritize patient well-being above all else.
When entering a dark, unfamiliar room, our hands instinctively grope along the wall, searching for a keypad to turn on the lights—and, with luck, finding it. It is one of those many things we only truly notice when they are poorly designed. When designing a space, placing controllers in accessible and intuitive locations requires careful attention from designers. Keypads belong to that category of objects we want to be easily found when needed, yet prefer to remain hidden when not in use. This is because their design often draws more attention than it should, potentially clashing with the space's aesthetic. But this does not always have to be the case. There are options that seamlessly combine design and functionality, offering customization that allows controllers to fit into any type of project.
