The interior of Manish Restaurant by ODVO and Mínima; photo by Demian Golovaty

Named after the traditional Lebanese flatbread, this cosy, 82-cover restaurant has been realised earlier this year in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo by two Brazilian architectural practices, ODVO and Mínima. Featuring light-filtering, concrete Arabesque, Manish enables its diners to ‘see without being seen’ during the day while ‘during the night, the concept of artificial lighting promotes the opposite: for those who are out muxarabi is in the negative and all the internal atmosphere, created by diverse and customised lighting solutions, is revealed, inviting customers to come and experience the sensations offered by several different angles of the house.’ (more…)

'Banquinho Bo', child's bench with giraffe back

“For me popular art is non-existent. Out of necessity people do things that are related to life” – With this sentence, said by the Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi, Studio MK27 described the idea behind their exhibition of furniture at this year’s INTERIEUR in Kortrijk. The showcased furniture were designed and created by Brazilian civil construction laborers with residual building materials. All of them were used at the construction sites. Some of the pieces underwent some small interventions, realized in a precise and artisan manner.

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Collection of aluminium vessels and lampshades by Jahara Studio

During this year’s Valencia Disseny Week the Bazilian designer Brunno Jahara presented his beautiful collection of colourful anodised alumnium vessels and lampshades within the ‘Uniedo Puntos’ exhibition. In the impressing old building of Valencia University the exhibition showcased the most recent works of Latin-American and Spanish designers with a clear focus on sustainable materials and processing. Brunno Jahara’s collection was inspired by a percussion beat used in carnival parties – ‘Batucada’.


“In Brazil, people play instruments made of tins, aluminum pots, and other alternative materials”, the designer explains.

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'Grid House' by forte, gimenes & marcondes ferraz ARQUITETOS, photo by Ale Shneider

This modular dwelling in the timbered mountains around Sao Paulo was designed by the Brazilian forte, gimenes & marcondes ferraz ARQUITETOS.

Actually, there is no house. One could rather call it an inhabitable garden – nature and architecture intrinsically meshed one into another, yet clearly showing the role played by nature and by construction. Clear, precise, the wooden grid fits into a small valley to promote the spot’s original ‘function’: the house floats over the paths to the hill’s summit, the jungle and the river.

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Catherdral in Brasilia, new glass facade, photo by Luidi Nunes /Glashütte Lamberts Waldsassen

On the occasion of the 50th annivarsary of Brasilia the famous cathedral by Oscar Niemeyer, the leading architect of this urban experiment, was restored extensively. Its sophisticated glazing which was strongly affected by pollution and the tropical climate even needed to be completely reconstructed. Especially Marianne Peretti (82) who designed together with Oscar Niemeyer this colourful facade was pleased about this intervention. Under the strict supervision of Instituto de Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional, the Institute for National Historical and Artistic Heritage and the consultancy of Luidi Nunes, a famous Brazilian glass artist, the glassblowers of the German company LambertsGlas produced all glass pieces for the 16 huge glazed roof sections. The further processing, traditional lead glazing, was carried out at Luidi Nunes’ studio in Brazil.

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'Harmonia 57', photo by Leonardo Finotti

The Sao Paulo based practice Triptyque Architecture recently unveiled this contorted studio in the heart of an artistic neighborhood in their hometown. Its facade is characterised by a comprehensive tube-system where the rain and soil water are drained, treated and reused, creating a complex ecosystem.

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Museum of Memory and Human Rights, photo by Cristobal Palma

The Brazilian architectural practice Estudio America realised the new building of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago de Chile. The competition was arranged by the Chilean Ministry of Public Works, Dirección de Arquitectura, Comisión Presidencial de los Derechos Humanos. The monolithic building is based on two major elements: the Exposition Beam and the Base. The first, elevated and airy, forms the exhibition space of the museum. The other, the Base, in a first step deep as a mine, where the study, the production, the invention, the seminars, the knowledge of the land and the territory are located.

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Sergio Rodrigues,Tonico chair; photo © Brazilian Modern

As part of this year’s ‘Fuori Salone’ in Milan, the ‘relics’ of the Brazilian Modernism were displayed in a church near the city’s Porta Romana: rare pieces by the so-called ‘Tropical Modernists’ of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The construction of Brasilia and the visionary ideas of architects Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa laid the path for ‘Brazilian Modernism’, which is almost unknown in Europe.

'Brazilian Modern' exhibition at Spazio Miticoro, Milan

When Le Corbusier first visited Rio de Janeiro in 1929, he found Brazil fascinating, but rural and provincial. Although he gave a few lectures, these were reserved for a small, highly educated circle that was able to follow his talks in French. Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer were among these few; they would later come to define Brazilian Modernism.
It was also they who made a stunning entrance with the Brazilian Pavilion for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. This was followed in 1943 by the ‘Brazil Builds’ exhibition at MOMA, which in turn was followed by the touring exhibition in Europe of the same name, which brought developments in Brazil to the attention of architects from the northern hemisphere.

Re-edition of Dinamarquesa armchair, design: Jorge Zalszupin; photo © Etel

The construction of planned city Brasilia in the 1950s was the high point of Brazilian Modernism: the new town, or rather new capital, can still be considered as the largest building project of all time. But many other well-known and lesser-known modernists worked alongside the internationally renowned architects Costa and Niemeyer, whose work we examine here.

JacJaranda and wool fabric chairs, designer: John Graz; photo © Brazilian Modern

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