As one of the first steps in the elaboration of an architectural project, the study of the current legislation on the ground is of paramount importance for the success of the proposal. Through calculations and restrictions, zoning laws present limits to be considered in projects that, consequently, instigate architects to think of intelligent solutions, dealing with such limitations in a practical and creative way.

These parameters are dictated by the government and aim to stop, maintain or accelerate urban growth in certain portions of cities. These are norms that establish guidelines for land occupation, delimiting the percentage of built-up area, setbacks, distances, permeability, among others.

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Earlier this year, I witnessed an intriguing situation. I followed, via an architect friend, the negotiation for the contracting of an architectural project for a single family home. The land owner, a public school teacher, sought professional help to build her dream home, estimated at about 60 square meters. It was a challenging terrain, with specific cutouts and a very steep topography that was compensated by the view of the city. The limited budget and the owner's history indicated that this would be the seaside version of the famous Vila Matilde House by Terra e Tuma.

In theory, urban planning is a process of elaborating solutions that aim both to improve or requalify an existing urban area, as well as to create a new urbanization in a given region. As a discipline and as a method of action, urban planning deals with the processes of production, structuring and appropriation of urban space. In this sense, its main objective is to point out what measures should be taken to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants, including matters such as transport, security, access opportunities and even interaction with the natural environment.

“Let me tell you what I think of the bicycle. It has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a sense of freedom and self-confidence. I appreciate every time I see a woman cycling... an image of freedom”. Susan Anthony, one of the most important American suffragette leaders, said this at the beginning of the 20th century, praising the libertarian power represented by women and their bicycles at the time.

"in downtown New Delhi, huge curved structures sink in the ground, taking the form of a ramp. Amorphous voids mark the great twisted walls. The color red marks the structures and sets them apart from everything else."

This could describe a playground or even a skate park, but it is one of five astronomical observatories built in India between 1724 and 1738. These mazy volumes, which look more like a materialization of Escher's drawings, were conceived by the Indian prince Jai Singh as part of an ambitious project that sought to put architecture at the service of science. Their shapes make complex astronomical analysis possible, such as predicting eclipses, tracking the location of stars, and determining Earth's exact orbit around the Sun.

“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food.”

This is how the Garden of Eden is portrayed in the first book of the bible, Genesis, which describes the origin of the universe and the heavenly place where Adam and Eve were placed. Such a paradise, despite being little characterized in the original words, has been inhabiting the imagination of the faithful and other enthusiasts of the matter for centuries. The scenes of this idyllic place, reinforced by the paintings and sculptures created over time, present a landscape considered ideal, an Edenic nature, expressed many times by the vibrant and contourless color – just like a painting by Monet –, probably emphasizing the representation of the spiritual world, where the image is seen through the contrast of colors, shadows and lights.

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In the history of architecture the concept of beauty has always been linked to different factors that represent, mainly, the values of society in a given period. The zeitgeist is certainly crucial to these definitions, so something that was once considered beautiful in the past is likely to be given another connotation nowadays. In this sense, aesthetic preferences in architecture seem to be linked to symbolic references implicit in the construction itself and in its relation with the world. They are preferences that express convictions, ideologies and positions, as well as moral, religious, political feelings and, of course, class status symbols.

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The hands hold the weight of the entire body, feeling the rough texture of unplastered mortar on its thin membrane. Even with the whole body stretched out against the wall, it still was not possible to see what was behind it. Sweat, in a mixture of adrenaline and heat, ran down his temples, indicating the movement for a final effort, a last impulse before the imminent fall that, for a few seconds, allowed him to overcome the last row. The field of vision was then opened to a fragmented, disconnected and oddly free world. An urban power that allowed itself to be strangled by the breath of tropical vegetation while being consumed by abandonment amidst an active and dynamic city.

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The hammock swaying on the balcony, the sunlight passing through the pierced elements in a dance of light and shadow, the vibrant color marking the spaces and bringing life, these are some of the characteristics present in the daily life of the works of the quartet that form Lins Arquitetos Associados.

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Nothing is more representative for an office than carrying the name of the country on its identity. Far from seeming banal, the architecture of Brazil in Brasil Arquitetura undergoes a thorough analysis that highlights aspects of Brazilian culture and society.

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Technical precision combined with environmental concern and exploratory and investigative character make Carla Juaçaba one of the great representatives of Latin American architecture today. Carioca, born in 1976, Carla Juaçaba attended the University of Santa Úrsula and attributes much of her experimental and interdisciplinary style to this educational institution. It is not by chance that during her academic training her great inspiring masters were the architect Sergio Bernardes and the visual artist Lygia Pape, insinuating her interest in the multiple disciplinary branches that can compose architecture. In this sense, while still at graduation, Carla worked together with architect Gisela Magalhães, from Oscar Niemeyer’s generation, in scenography and expography projects.

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Seen as one of the great promises for the future of construction, carbon concrete mixes strength, lightness and flexibility. In addition, at a time marked by a serious environmental crisis that puts the construction methods of the industry in check, carbon concrete emerges as an alternative that approaches the guidelines of sustainability.

You may have heard an architect colleague say that he chose to study architecture because of the numerous possibilities of action that this degree allows. The field of architecture is, in fact, very extensive, through which it is possible to embark not only on the most “traditional” attributions, but also to venture into various specificities that comprehend the role of the architect and urban planner.

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Nowadays everything is “painted” green. It's green packaging, green technologies, green materials, green cars and, of course, green architecture. A “green wave”, stimulated by the environmental and energy crisis we are facing, with emphasis on climate change and all the consequences linked to global warming. This calamitous situation is confirmed by the second part of the report entitled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and presented in recent weeks. It reveals that, although adaptation efforts are being observed in all sectors, the progress implemented so far is very low, as the actions taken are not enough.

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According to the architect and researcher Patrícia Akinaga, ecological urbanism emerged at the end of the 20th century as a strategy to create a paradigm shift with regard to the design of cities. With this, urban projects should be designed from the potential and limitations of existing natural resources. Unlike other previous movements, in ecological urbanism architecture is not the structuring element of the city — the landscape itself is. In other words, green areas should not only exist to beautify spaces, but as true engineering artifacts with the potential to dampen, retain and treat rainwater, for example. With ecological urbanism, urban design becomes defined by the natural elements intrinsic to its fabric.

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The strategy of raising houses off the ground gained popularity in the 1920s when Le Corbusier announced structures on pilotis as one of the 5 points of modern architecture. A great contribution, especially in the urban issue, as it enables the creation of a free space with greater connection between the public sphere of the street and the private sphere of the building. His iconic Villa Savoye is a paradigmatic example of the use of pilotis that preserves the natural terrain and, as Le Corbusier himself said, places the house on the grass like an object, without disturbing anything. In addition, the pilotis also served as a strategy for the flow of vehicles, which can be seen in Lina Bo Bardi’s equally emblematic Casa de Vidro and its slender steel tubes. Arranged in a modulation of four modules in width by five in depth, they maintain the house as a transparent floating box in the midst of nature, respecting the terrain and assisting in the building's thermal comfort by allowing air circulation.

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Compact city refers to the urban model associated with a more densified occupation, with consequent overlapping of its uses (homes, shops and services) and promotion of the movement of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users. Amsterdam and Copenhagen are known examples of such a model.