Archinect - News

UNStudio completes first South American project in São Paulo

2024-09-26T19:04:00-04:00

UNStudio has shared its design for the new EZ Parque da Cidade apartment complex in São Paulo. Built at approximately 883,200 square feet, the building incorporates unique rotated windmill-shaped floor plans and series of eight intertwined sky gardens.

Image: © Joana França

Each of its four apartment types has a 19.5-foot-deep terrace that comprises up to 25% of the unit size. Approximately one-third (31%) of the complex’s surface is made permeable to mitigate the effects of urban heat island, which is a growing problem in the city whose urban footprint has been expanded by 40% over the last 30 years. São Paulo, which is pursuing a new mini forest initiative, will benefit from the addition of 83 new trees

Image: © Joana França

At the complex’s ground level, the firm established a pavilions-in-the-park concept that contributed to its overall placemaking strategy, encouraging a healthy and more active lifestyle based around community engagement. A linear park connects with the develo...

Soccer legend Pelé is laid to rest inside world's tallest cemetery in Santos, Brazil

2023-01-04T11:49:00-05:00

Pelé was a footballer like no other, and his final resting place will be exceptional too: a large replica stadium complete with artificial turf inside the world’s tallest vertical cemetery. The Brazilian football great, whose funeral was held Tuesday, bought his mausoleum 19 years ago inside the Memorial Ecumenical Cemetery, a high-rise building that holds the Guinness world record as the tallest cemetery in the world.

The “King of Football’s” 2,152-square-foot crypt is located inside the 32-story, 430,000-square-foot first-ever vertical cemetery in the world that features amenities like a 24/7 restaurant and indoor aviary.

Pelé said the apartment block-esque building offered more “spiritual peace and tranquility” over traditional graveyards. He was laid to rest alongside a former teammate, other family members, and the building’s 16,000-plus residents.

The funeral also provided Brazil's new President first public appearance while his predecessor watched in exile at a lesser-known sports champion's manse in Orlando.

Safdie Architects completes Albert Einstein Education and Research Center in São Paulo

2022-07-25T17:13:00-04:00

Safdie Architects has completed a new verdant medical school and research building with a distinctive domed glass roof in São Paulo.

Conceived as an urban oasis, the Albert Einstein Education and Research Center (AEERC) is the latest initiative of Brazilian healthcare institute Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Albert Einstein. It is slated to be one of Latin America’s most advanced institutions for medical research and study.

Photo by Timothy Hursley. Courtesy of Safdie Architects

The Center is located in São Paulo’s Morumbi district, adjacent to the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. The AEERC is the first medical school established by a private hospital in Brazil. Safdie Architects also worked in collaboration with Perkins&Will, who led the programming and interior planning of the classrooms and labs.

Photo by Timothy Hursley. Courtesy of Safdie Architects

The integration of nature throughout the spaces of the facility is at the core of the project’s design. The centerpiece of the...

Smoke from burning Amazon rainforest drops São Paulo into sudden darkness

2019-08-20T19:29:00-04:00

In the height of daytime, the sky suddenly blackened, and day became night in Sao Paulo. Sure, smog is bad in the Western Hemisphere’s largest city, where traffic jams can stretch for dozens of miles. But not this bad. What was going on? Was the end near?

A combination of meteorological events paired with smoke that had traveled hundreds of miles from intense forest fires in remote parts of the Amazon caused a period of sudden midday darkness in the most populous city in the Western Hemisphere on Monday, reports The Washington Post.

Meanwhile on Twitter, #PrayforAmazonia emerged as a trending hashtag, channeling the global outrage over the lack of media coverage and political action towards the vast forest fires which have been raging in the drought-stricken Amazon rainforest region of Brazil for more than two weeks now.

Fires are burning across central South America. Yesterday #NOAA20's OMPS instrument detected the aerosol index - an index that detects the presence of particles like soot and dust in the atmosphere - in the vicinity of the fires. This can help inform air quality forecasts. https://t.co/lCMwTqWxtA
— Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) (@JPSSProgram) August 19, 2019

Much of the blame for the lack of disaster response i...

26-story building in Brazil collapses after massive blaze

2018-05-01T13:29:00-04:00

An abandoned 26-story building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, caught fire and collapsed early Tuesday, showering the surrounding streets with fiery embers and killing at least one person, firefighters said. About 150 firefighters were battling the blaze, which started at about 1:30 a.m. local time. It is thought to have been caused by a gas explosion, according to reports.

Though officially abandoned as the former São Paulo headquarters of the federal police, about 50 families were believed to have occupied the building as squatters. Most people have reportedly managed to get out, however at least one person died in the building collapse, firefighters said.

Factory and Office Headquarter Annex by SUBdV Architecture

2017-06-30T14:53:00-04:00

Designed by a Brazilian architecture firm SUBdV Architecture, this Factory and Office Annex in São Paulo, fuses high-tech architectural design strategies with local low-tech construction methodologies.

The façade system references the traditional Brazilian ‘cobogo’ shading screen, which controls the filtration of indirect sunlight through the operable windows on the south and west facades, while also creating a thermal mass which prevents the penetration of hot air in the interior spaces.

Photos by Rodrigo Chust

Generated through parametric scripts, the various geometric configurations of blocks produce different sized openings and differently-angled light reflection planes, allowing for the optimal combination of both shading and illumination.

The building's double-height ground floor contains a material storage facility, first and second floors are dedicated to administrative office space for the factory and a showroom of the factory's products.

De...

São Paulo named Grand Prize Winner in 2016 Mayors Challenge

2016-12-01T18:45:00-05:00

As part of this year’s Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, the Brazilian megacity drafted a proposal for a digital interchange platform designed to connect vendors with restaurants, markets, and other retailers in an effort to make it easier for them to sell their wares. On Wednesday, São Paulo’s proposal was named the winner of the third ever Mayors Challenge, which gives it a $5 million cash prize to implement the idea.

"Four other cities will also receive $1 million each to implement their respective proposals. The winners include two Colombian cities, Medellín and Bogotá, as well as Santiago, Chile, and Guadalajara, Mexico."

Click here to learn more about the winning proposal "São Paulo: Growing Farmers’ Income, Shrinking Urban Sprawl."

Stepping inside Studio MK27's polished SP_Penthouse

2016-09-01T14:09:00-04:00

The SP_Penthouse in Sao Paulo isn't Don Draper's never-before-seen getaway from a lost episode of “Mad Men”, although it can surely pass as a set for the TV show with all those modernist furnishings. Since Studio MK27 completed the polished abode last year, it has gained recognition in notable design competitions like the 2016 AZ Awards and the latest INSIDE: World Festival of Interiors shortlist. The designers have been in the global spotlight as well for other Sao Paulo projects like the Cultura Bookstore.

Led by Studio MK27's Marcio Kogan, Diana Radomysler and Luciana Antunes, the firm's main objective was to create spatial continuity and a “cozy and solemn atmosphere” throughout the three-floor penthouse, they state. “Infinite circulations accentuate the fluidity between the spaces and configure functional pathways.” But careful architectural details and furnishings make all the difference, giving every space its own character.

The house's large corridors aren't mere passagew...

São Paulo's big bet on housing policy

2016-02-08T13:07:00-05:00

what exactly does housing justice look like in a metropolis where the wealthiest commute via helicopters while the poorest live in shantytowns perched on riverbanks? [...] “The new master plan tries to resolve one of São Paulo’s biggest challenges, which is its decentralization" [...] The master plan calls for ... transit-oriented development ... [and] expanding and honing the controversial Zonas Especiais de Interesse Social... swaths of the city defined as having “special social interest.”

More news from São Paulo and housing crises the world over:

Odd beauty: downtown São Paulo through the lens of Felipe Russo

2016-01-09T09:00:00-05:00

Felipe Russo, photographer who lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil dedicated a photoseries titled Centro, to this vibrant and complex city. Felipe Russo focuses on nearly invisible objects spotted in urban space. He analyses coincidentally captured oddments to decode zeitgeist of a modern city. A plastic bag, brick, cardboard box or zoomed-in cobblestone hidden between business centers, skyscrapers and modern buildings became subjects of surreal compositions.

Photos from the series Centro by Felipe Russo.

Schools shuffle and museums move forward: Weekly News Round-Up for October 27, 2014

2014-11-03T20:29:00-05:00

Friday, October 31:

New Plan for Architecture School at Wright Foundation: Facing the loss of its accreditation in 2017, the school is considering independent incorporation in order to continue operating.

Thursday, October 30:

Archinect's Lexicon: "Anthropocene": Recognizing that "Architecture notoriously appropriates and invents new language – sometimes to make appeals, sometimes to fill conceptual gaps, sometimes nonsensically", Archinect's new series will create a lexicon of (mostly new) discursive architectural terms.

Wednesday, October 29:

Relocation or Adaptation: São Paulo Nears Collapse as Drought Continues: Partially due to climate change and deforestation, major reservoirs are dangerously low and cities in São Paulo are beginning to go dry.
Snøhetta to take over SF development project near Civic Center: The condo design originally was given to Richard Meier, and may involve relocating the adjacent subway stop at Civic Center in downtown San Francisco.
The Broad Kinda Sorta Has an...

Relocation or Adaptation: São Paulo Nears Collapse as Drought Continues

2014-10-29T20:12:00-04:00

South America's biggest and wealthiest city may run out of water by mid-November if it doesn't rain soon. São Paulo, a Brazilian megacity of 20 million people, is suffering its worst drought in at least 80 years, with key reservoirs that supply the city dried up after an unusually dry year.

One of the most important reservoirs in Brazil is the Cantareira watershed, which supplies around 45% of the city of São Paulo's water. Back in August, authorities warned that the city, which is the largest on the continent, could run out of water in 100 days if the waters dropped to 12%. Now, supplies are at a record 3.3% and creating shortages for over 30% of the city's 44 million residents. According to the Financial Times, residents in 70 other cities in the state of São Paulo have experienced water outages, some of which have gone on for days. Despite some minor efforts to curb usage – such as reducing water pressure by 75% at night –, Vicente Andreu, president of Brazil's Water Regulatory Agency, has stated that São Paulo should prepare for a "collapse like we've never seen before" in the next few weeks.

President Dilma Rousseff, who just won reelection, had used the drought as a major campaign issue. She claimed that Governor Geraldo Alckmin, whose a member of the opposition p...

Articulating Space: The Architecture of the São Paulo Biennial

2014-09-11T13:59:00-04:00

The São Paulo Biennial, which opened on September 6, is traditionally a contemporary art festival, but this year’s event puts new emphasis on architecture. Chief curator Charles Esche commissioned nearly 70 percent of the exhibition’s artworks, collaborating with a five-person curatorial team that included an architect for the first time in the biennial’s 63-year history (fun fact: it’s the world’s second-oldest contemporary art biennial).

The Ruins of Congonhas

2014-09-08T00:14:00-04:00

Our world "classic" will not be destroyed by barbarians. He is destroyed by us every day, eroded, imploded, sabotaged. And the aesthetic result is something that is far short of what art history calls "picturesque" .

Powerfully penned by Guilherme Wisnik. Original text is in Portuguese.

The ruins of Congonhas
William Wisnik

In the foreground of the ground, an uneven and cracked asphalt, taken by waste accumulated adrift, as boxes, bags, newspaper sheets, clothes and debris of fallen walls destroyed themselves just ahead. Then a sequence of columns lined concrete, even without horizontal beams or cradles that unite. Behind them, a shapeless mass of structures (mainly buildings) and fairly diverse in terms of their heights, but uniform in appearance plastic, forming a kind of wall to the second stage. And finally, above all, a very dirty white sky, which does not seem to offer redemption to the feelings of melancholy and abandonment that dominate the picture. Incidentally, everything is scratched and grimy image, feeling is intensified by granulation something dreamlike this series of black and white Mauro Restiffe made in the city of São Paulo.

The scene is located in Vila Congonhas, in the vicinity...

Neo-Classical falls foul of Brazil’s love of Baroque

2014-09-02T14:19:00-04:00

Through the free-flowing talent of Costa, Niemeyer, Burle Marx and Athos Bulcão, Brasília—the only city built in the 20th century that is listed by Unesco—has captivated the world since 1960. But the federal capital has not made Modernism sacred in the country as a whole and the protection of Modern architecture is still in its infancy.

City: Ways of Making, Ways of Using

2014-02-28T18:53:00-05:00

In the projects shown here, architects and artists reflect on the problems and possibilities of economic and urban growth. How is rapid urbanization happening? Who is benefiting, and who is being displaced or excluded? What can architects and citizens do to exert leverage on processes at once local and global?

On Places, Jonathan Massey reviews the 10th Sao Paulo Architecture Biennial, and presents a slideshow of selected works.