Local studio Bloco Arquitetos has completed a house in Brasília surrounded by brick screens and wide entry portals that open up the central courtyard to the exterior.

Known as Casa Tupin, the 420-square-metre (4,520-square-foot) residence is rectangular with a large central courtyard.

The 2025 house, set in a gated community 20 kilometres from Brasília, was designed to integrate the interior and exterior with the courtyard, which functions as both the leisure space and the connective core of the home.

"A house without windows, that is a window itself – rather than opening punctual views, the project seeks to transform the entire architectural body into a mediator between interior life and the surrounding landscape," Bloco Arquitetos told Dezeen.

"This approach results in a building that engages the environment through performance rather than transparency," the studio said.

Instead of large expanses of glazing, the vertical planes between the raised concrete slab and deep roof structure are coral-coloured brick – arranged as solid walls or breeze block-like screen – wrapping the house in texture and filtered light.

Selected for durability and composition consistency, the brick and concrete protect the interior from excessive heat. The restrained palette allows light, shadow and time to become part of the architecture, the studio explained.

"This porous facade acts simultaneously as solar protection and as a permanent ventilation filter, allowing air to flow in all directions throughout the house," the studio said.

"All spaces are organized in relation to this system, which integrates structure, climate control and spatial experience into a single architectural strategy."

The circulation, living spaces and private areas are arranged to maximise cross ventilation and the idea of the house as a continuous architectural experience that follows the structural logic of the design.

Supported on 12 pillars, three-quarters of the plan is elevated above the ground to pull natural ventilation beneath the house, preserve the existing topography and allow the native plants of the Brazilian savana – or Cerrado – to grow beneath the residence.

"This elevation also allows the native small animals from Cerrado – mostly lizards and burrowing owls – to move freely between the outside garden and the inner courtyard," the studio said, noting that the layout also allowed for the preservation of an existing tree at the centre of the courtyard.

Suspending the house and detaching it from the ground helped the designers connect the spatial concept with the environmental goals.

"This structural clarity allowed the building to appear both stable and light, reinforcing the idea of elevation as an architectural and environmental strategy," the studio said.

"Another key achievement was reversing the perception of transparency – although the house appears closed and opaque from the outside, the interior is open, fluid and visually expansive."

Other recent residential projects that use screens for ventilation include the renovation of a Puerto Rican home by Paul Raff and a woven timber home in Goa, India, by Field Atelier.

The photography is by Joana França.

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Brazilian studio Architects Office has designed the undulating, solar panel-covered World Trade Center building for Brasilia's Biotic development to "reprogram" what the studio sees as the rigid infrastructure of the city.

The World Trade Center Biotic (WTC Biotic) is planned for an open swath of land in the Biotic development, masterplanned by architect Carlo Ratti. It is a one-million-square-metre district designed to be a high-tech innovation hub.

The Biotic development is located north of the city centre, just on the edge of a national park, on a mostly open, undeveloped plot of land.

Renderings show a square, 250 by 250 metre development, with an assortment of rectangular buildings tucked underneath a large, undulating canopy. Large openings are distributed around its surface and encircle open courtyards below.

A mixed typology of square, photovaltic, planter, and "pergola" panels create the canopy's rippling surface.

The WTC Biotic project was formally announced in 2023, and will contain multiple buildings that will serve as a centre for conferences, exhibitions and international trade events, according to the team.

The overall design was, in part, created to break away from Brasília's rigid grid system laid out by designers Lúcio Costa, Osca  Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in the 1950s, which arranged the city into distinct sectors.

"The concept of 'reprogramming' lies at the heart of this vision," said Architects Office. "To reprogram is to break away from rigid zoning between living, working, and moving – and between architecture and urbanism."

"Biotic proposes a new urban ecosystem, where different uses intertwine within a single living framework."

The design of WTC Biotic was further based on "a building of extensive horizontal reach" according to the studio.

"The project is based on a singular condition: a building of extensive horizontal reach, with extremely restrained height," it said.

"This radical proportion inverts traditional hierarchies of vertical architecture, guiding the reading of the project not by elevation, but by levels, contours, and the relationships established with ground and sky."

Underneath the canopy, the buildings are organised into blocks of tiered office, residential, hotel, and convention buildings.

Renderings show lush green spaces and plantings throughout the development, as well as bodies of water.

According to the team, the project has entered its construction phase this month. It will be carried out in stages, beginning with corporate buildings, followed by the hotel, and then, later, the residential program.

It is estimated that 150,000 square metres of built area will be completed by 2030.

Carlo Ratti unveiled the Biotic masterplan in 2020, which is developed by the Brazilian real estate company Terracap. Also known as the Brasília Technological Park, the area has been under development for more than two decades.

It was originally known as Digital Capital Technology Park before its rebrand to Biotic.

The images are courtesy of Architects Office.

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Brazilian studio Bloco Arquitetos has used prefabricated elements to create a house with two stacked, perpendicular volumes clad with screens in Brasília.

Known as the 350 House, the 500-square metre residence can be completely opened to light and views or closed for privacy because of the many screens along its side.

BLOCO Arquitetos – which is based in Brasília and run by architects Henrique Coutinho, Matheus Seco and Daniel Mangabeira – designed the house to be built in the shortest time possible, selecting a prefabricated module, structure and finishes that allowed for rapid construction. It was completed in 2022.

The team drew inspiration from the works of architects Harry Seidler and Craig Ellwood.

"The fast construction schedule that was expected and the scarcity of materials during the end of the pandemic ended up narrowing down our choice of structural materials," the team told Dezeen. "We chose the steel structure, as it was the type of structure that best adapted to our goals and limitations."

The house is composed of two rectangular bars set on a 350-centimetre grid, providing the design its name.

The ground floor – which runs southwest to northeast – houses the living, dining and kitchen areas, as well as service spaces, an office and two small bedrooms. A portion of the plan is cut out to form a covered porch for the adjacent pool deck on the south side.

The upper volume – cantilevering out to the northwest and southeast – holds the bedrooms. A lounge space serves as a landing for the staircase and separates the primary ensuite from the two secondary bedrooms.

Each room on the upper level features an eastern glazed wall to welcome the rising sun in the mornings.

The seven-metre overhangs serve as a carport on one side and a covered patio on the other, while the roof of the living room is an elevated terrace.

All exterior elements – including structure, awnings, walls and fixed joinery – are beige "visually neutralizing or homogenizing each surface." Cast-in-place concrete and steel decking create the floors, which masonry walls finished with plaster and beige paint form the exterior shell. The cantilevered ends and soffits are clad in aluminium composite sheets.

The team worked to combine the industrial aesthetic of the steel structure with a "warm and cozy feeling" on the interior. A wooden suspended ceiling provides a natural material relief from the beige, as do details like internal doors, joinery and furniture.

Other than the end and interior walls, the rest of the structure is glazed from the floor to the ceiling in near-seamless frames.

"Motorized, retractable and translucent awnings have been positioned over all the open spans," the team said. "They allow the entry of natural light to be controlled and the desired privacy to be adjusted."

When closed during the day, the house appears solid and uninhabited, but at night, the screens create a lantern effect.

Other recent projects by Bloco Arquitetos include a reconfigured 1960s apartment with translucent walls in Brasília and a brick house that steps down a hillside in São Jorge.

The photography is by Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Authors: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho, Matheus Seco
Coordination: Giovanni Cristofaro
Team: Giovanni Cristofaro and Victor Machado
Structural design: Vista Engenharia
Lighting: Dessine
Construction: Grid Engenharia
Joinery: Vírgula Zero
Furniture: Acervo Mobília
Artwork: Index Gallery
Window frames: Raveli Esquadrias

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Local studio ARQBR has used concrete and wood for a round church in Brasilia, Brazil that lifts off the land with 360-degree, ground-level windows.

ARQBR completed the 3,900-square metre (40,000-square foot) concrete facility for the Church of the Holy Family in 2022, as an extension of Lucio Costa's Pilot Project for the capital of Brazil.

The four-building church sits just off one of the main components of the city's radio-centric road system.

The complex includes an existing church building, a linear annex, a floating disk nave, and a low-slung parish house. They were designed to emphasise the horizon line on the flat site.

"Beyond the sense of organization and orientation, the horizon expresses the vision of the whole and, primordially, the connection between the observer and the environment, a condition that is necessary to the manifestation of the landscape," the team said.

Just separated from a free-standing, monolithic concrete steeple is the circular nave, which serves as the focal point of the complex and a welcoming feature for worshippers.

The round building is half-submerged in the landscape and the smooth concrete enclosure is lifted off the ground plane by six structural pillars embedded in the topography.

A ring of windows along the ground line and a perimeter skylight bring natural light deep into the form and make the form feel as if it is floating.

"By revealing the presence of the horizon, the architecture becomes a constitutive element of the landscape, an opening to the poetic dimension of the world, connecting the material reality to its spectator's gaze," the team said.

On the interior, the foundation wall tilts outwards as it slopes up to the ground line, creating a bowl-like condition.

A vertical wooden screen hangs from the wall and provides texture and pattern around the perimeter of the space, which has only two materials – soft grey concrete surfaces and warm wood furniture.

To preserve the totality of the form, the nave is accessed by an axial procession that ramps down from the lawn beneath the concrete ring. The axis connects the nave, annex building, and the pre-existing, red-roofed church building, which is used for parish activities.

An underground corridor, accessed by a curving staircase behind the altar, connects the nave with the bar-shaped annex, which is characterized by a deep, cantilevered concrete roof.

Vertical beams support the cantilever and create a pattern of shadows along the building's edge.

A second axis runs from the altar, passing the campanile bell tower, to the highway in the distance.

"The architectural concept synthesizes the three fundamental premises of Brasilia," the team explained, referencing the building's implantation into the topography, the integration of public and private space, and the use of landscape as an organizing element.

The city of Brasilia was designed by modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer to be the federal capital of Brazil. Recently, political unrest led to some of the buildings in the capital being damaged.

Also in Brasilia, ARQBR – which was founded in 2013 by architects Andre Velloso and Eder Alencar – used a similar neutral solid form with textured wooden accents in a Z-shaped courtyard house.

The photography is by Joana Franca.

Project credits:

Architects: Eder Alencar, André Velloso, Luciana Saboia
Collaborators: Paulo Victor Borges, Margarida Massimo
Interns: Rodrigo Rezende, Pedro Santos, Julia Huff
Architecture: ARQBR Architecture and Urbanism
Construction: Tecna Construtora
Steel structure: Comini Tuler
Concrete structure: Breno Rodrigues
Installations: Alencar Costa
Light design: Beth Leite
Acoustics: Síntese Acústica Arquitetônica
Landscape design: Quinta Arquitetura, Design and Landscape
Environmental comfort: Quali-A Conforto Ambiental and Eficiência Energética

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The bemusement of the rioters who made their way into Brasília's National Congress this month pointed to an increasing disaffection with architectural symbols of power, writes Will Wiles.

On 8 January, supporters of defeated Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro swarmed the heart of the nation's capital, Brasília, in a mass protest that turned into a rampage of vandalism. On first impression, it looked like an uncanny replay of almost exactly two years earlier, when supporters of defeated American president Donald Trump overran the United States Capitol.

There were important differences between these events, most significantly the fact that Brazil had already inaugurated its new president when its parliament buildings were overrun, and its lawmakers were elsewhere. The potential for mischief, violence, or even a serious threat to the transfer of power, was thus greatly diminished. But the comparison was irresistible; patterns are pretty, and the contrast between the settings of the events – the neoclassical grandeur of Capitol Hill against the modernist grandeur of Three Powers Square – only served to heighten the temptation.

The drama of the moment was emphasised by the sculptural power of the spaces

After 6 January 2021, I wrote in the art magazine Apollo that the surreal scenes produced by the Trumpist insurrection – shamans in the Senate chamber and so on – served to reveal the United States Capitol Building. They pierced the fog of familiarity and mystique around it, letting us look with fresh eyes.

In North America and Europe, the Brazilian capital is much less familiar – unless of course you are at all interested in architecture, as Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer's Brasília is one of the 20th century's greatest works of architecture. As pictures emerged of a river of people ascending the ramp of the National Congress palace, the drama of the moment was emphasised by the sculptural power of the spaces, and in the architecture circles of the Global North, there was a bit of a tendency towards an "I know her!" reaction. Recognition of the setting got in the way of an appraisal of what was happening.

Once this reaction filtered through to headlines on architecture sites such as "Three Niemeyer buildings ransacked by protestors supporting former Brazilian president Bolsonaro", the foregrounding of the background came across as name-droppy and faintly ridiculous. As the architecture writer and critic Tim Abrahams pointed out on Twitter, it would be absurd to cover other stories that way: "Knife attacker downed by French police in Jacques Ignace Hittorff-designed railway station".

This is quite right, of course. But it's hard to move on from the thought that, on some level or other, the architecture does matter in the storming of the National Congress, that it's not simply a mute container for events.

Obviously if you want to protest lawmakers – or even to threaten or usurp them – then the place where they gather is the place you go. And those places often generate self-reinforcing loops of metonymy and symbolism, built with reference to symbols and then becoming a symbol in their own right. Indian commentators, for instance, sometimes use "Lutyens" – in reference to the architect of New Delhi – as shorthand for a particular kind of political in-group, the same way Americans might say "Beltway".

Brasília, Washington DC and New Delhi are planned capitals, and in planned capitals these symbolic systems take on extra weight, as they are written into the landscape itself. Kenneth Frampton used the word "geomantic" to describe Costa's Brasília plan, meaning "divination using the earth", a nation writing its own destiny into the ground. And in a sense this is true of all planned capitals, regardless of their architectural garb.

To occupy those spaces, to visibly possess them, is a gesture that has potent symbolic power in itself

Pierre L'Enfant and Thomas Ustick Walter reached for classical precedents in Washington; Costa and Niemeyer for the more primal authority of axial symmetry and pure geometry. Either way, the aim is to imprint authority, and what simpler way to do that than orient a plan so that the centre of authority is literally at the focus. Brasília is more or less a constitutional org chart that can be seen from space: Three Powers Square is in fact an equilateral triangle, giving equal relations to the congress, supreme court and presidency, with the congress at its head.

To occupy those spaces, to visibly possess them, is a gesture that has potent symbolic power in itself, even when that gesture is a futile and self-defeating outburst of political disappointment, as appears to have been the case in Brasília.

Both events responded to election defeats, and both were inspired by right-wing leaders with an ambiguous attitude towards democratic legitimacy: the people are paramount, but only their people; democracy exists to legitimise them, and if it fails then it is not democracy. Such thought processes are not exclusive to the right, but it is the right that has so far produced these mass expressions of rejection or repudiation, straying beyond marching and into invading.

For those on the winning sides of the elections – and, more generally, for those who care about respecting election results and the peaceful transfer of power, and even for neutral observers – these symbolic violations have a way of reinforcing the symbolic power of the architecture.

But for the perpetrators, any satisfaction to be obtained was short-lived. The architecture was a kind of bait-and-switch. The box that promised to contain vital machinery proved to be empty. The princess is in another castle.

This may explain a feature the two January riots had in common: the strange air of bewilderment that seemed to come over the perpetrators once their objective was achieved and the symbolic locus of power was occupied. In the US Capitol there was a frightening core that apparently intended hostage-taking or even murder, but the mass of invaders just wandered about in stupefied triumph. The same bafflement could be seen in Brasília, where the mob channelled its frustrations into vandalism and shuffled off into mass arrests.

There is a spreading perception that systems no longer fully make sense

It's natural to deplore these events and fear what they might portend in the future. But that bewilderment is, I think, something that can be recognised far beyond those right-wing movements, and is increasingly colouring politics of all kinds: a kind of uncontrolled skid, a sudden loss of traction. There is a spreading perception that systems no longer fully make sense. The levers are not hooked up. The symbol is empty.

Of course, this is no more than a perception, and it depends on where you stand: for many, the restoration of order in Brasília and the change of government that preceded it will have shown the durability of Brazilian democracy, and the difference made by ordinary voters. The rioters obviously no longer had that feeling – their perception, fermented elsewhere, was that power no longer resides at the locus of the diagram, at the head of the axis, at the centre of the radial lines.

In this respect, an important component of modern democracy has seeped away from the geometry of constitutional order and into the network's hall of mirrors. An urgent question, at least partly architectural, is what can be done to bring it back.

Will Wiles is a design writer and the author of four novels, most recently The Last Blade Priest.

The photography is by Andrew Prokos.

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Provocative architecture studio Opposite Office has designed the Castillo Congresso wall to encircle Brasília's National Congress and turn the Oscar Niemeyer-designed building into a "fortress to protect democracy".

The studio designed the wall as a "reaction to the storm on the National Congress of Brazil in Brasilia by supporters of the voted out president Bolsonaro," it said.

Earlier this week, Bolsonaro supporters rioted in Brazil's capital of Brasília, damaging the iconic Oscar Niemeyer-designed National Congress, Planalto Palace and Supreme Court buildings as they called for the removal of newly elected Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula.

To stop this from happening again, Opposite Office designed the Castillo Congresso wall. It envisions the design will convert Brazil's National Congress building into a "fortress to protect democracy" in a project the studio described as "dystopian".

A solid 1.5-metre-thick wall made from recycled bricks would encircle the building, which was designed by Brazilian architect Niemeyer and completed in 1960.

The studio designed the wall with geometric shapes based on Niemeyer's building designs, though Opposite Office architect Benedikt Hartl said the Brazilian architect might not have liked it.

"Of course, we, as Opposite Office, are aware that accessing an architectural icon such as Niemeyer's work is very difficult and delicate," he told Dezeen.

"Oscar Niemeyer probably wouldn't agree with this design either. In general, we tried to design as sensitively as possible, but it is also clear that a solid wall, a protection wall, will have a certain presence," he added.

"Security is not for free! If we don't manage to solve the problem of division of society, we have to build walls and cannot take sensitivities into account."

The Castillo Congresso design is a continuation of Capitol Castle, which Opposite Office released in January 2021 following the invasion of the building by Donald Trump supporters.

The studio suggested that Castillo Congresso could be seen as a "recycling project", using the same brick design as that of the Capitol Castle project.

"Of course we had adjust the design according to the building, but our wall is a modular system, consisting of different geometrical shapes," Hartl said.

"We have triangle, circular-shaped and straight parts. Capitol and Congresso are quite similar in shape and circumference. Capitol is with its approximately 230 x 107 metres a bit bigger than Congresso, with around 200 x 75 metres," he added.

"For the project Castillo Congresso in Brasilia, we tried to reuse all parts of Capitol Castle's wall. According to the general layout of the building we just had to change the arrangement a bit."

Having designed the initial wall to protect the US Capitol building, the studio believes that seeing history repeat itself is proof of how divided the world has become.

"First of all, it says nothing good about the state of our political system," Hartl said.

"In many countries, society seems to be divided into two parts that move further and further apart instead of shaking hands," he added.

"So when we see that similar things happen around the world, everything becomes polarized, opinions become more and more extreme, we really should try to work on solutions that bring people together again."

Other speculative designs by Opposite Office include a proposition to turn the Nord Stream gas pipeline into a site of international cooperation and changing Berlin's Brandenburg airport into a superhospital.

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Supporters of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro have damaged the iconic Oscar Niemeyer-designed National Congress, Planalto Palace and Supreme Court buildings after storming the capital of Brasília.

The protesters, who numbered in their thousands, stormed the buildings, climbing roofs and breaking windows, reported UK newspaper The Independent.

Glass cabinets were smashed and fire extinguishers were set off in the National Congress, according to UK architecture publication Building Design.

Protester set fires inside National Congress building 

Protesters reportedly stole objects from both the supreme court and the presidential palace and broke furniture, with videos on social media also showing fires inside the congress building, reported The Guardian.

The palaces, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were designed by Niemeyer in the 1950s to 1960s as a part of his creation of the Brazilian capital.

The riot, which US president Joe Biden called "an attack on democracy", was perpetrated by Bolsonaro supporters calling for the removal of newly elected Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula.

Lula blamed Bolsonaro for the attack and stated that "anyone involved will be punished". At least 300 arrests have been made following the riot, which has been compared to the attack on the United States Capitol building on 6 January, 2021.

Bolsonaro criticised for damaging Palàcio da Alvorada

The attack on the government buildings came after a report last week by Brasilian TV channel GloboNews that the Palàcio da Alvorada, the official residence of Brazil's president, had been left damaged and with missing artworks after the departure of Bolsonaro.

Brazil's first lady, Janja Lulu da Silva, showed damaged carpets and torn sofas as well as broken windows during the video interview and said artworks have been damaged by the sun and some were missing.

The presidential couple now plans to renovate the palace and eventually open it for public tours.

The presidential residence made the news in 2017 when then-president Michel Temer, 76, and his wife Marcela, 33, left the building after sensing "bad energy" and fearing it could be haunted.

Plans to install anti-drone antennas on top of Planalto Palace as well as the Alvorado and Jaburu palaces were criticised by Brazil's national heritage institute in 2020, which said it would "directly impact" the iconic structures

The photograph of Planalto Palace is by Webysther.

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Architecture firm ARQBR has completed a family house in Brasília that features a ribbon-shaped plan and a central courtyard with a swimming pool.

The Couri House sits on a 713-square-metre plot within a residential neighbourhood in Brazil's capital city. The property features a single Pequi tree – a protected species that is native to the region.

Adjacent to the lot is non-buildable, public green space with a newly planted forest.

It is within this context that local firm ARQBR was tasked with designing a small, single-storey home with lots of open space for a five-member family.

The architects conceived a low-lying, 340-square-metre dwelling that is roughly Z-shaped in plan and stretches nearly the depth of the site.

This configuration allowed for a large, internal patio with a swimming pool and enabled the preservation of the Pequi tree, which sits in the centre of the property.

"The solution was to launch a ribbon-shaped plan that develops around the lot, adjusting to its perimeter and forming voids integrated with gardens and with the occupation of the house itself," the firm said.

"Due to the limited land area, it was challenging to distribute the entire program of needs on a single floor, preserving the existing 'pequizeiro' tree, and still configure qualified unbuilt spaces."

The home has a concrete structural system, with average spans of five metres. Walls are made of ceramic block masonry that was painted white.

On the front facade, an absence of windows conceals what lies within the dwelling. The garage and front entrance are marked with honey-toned cumaru wood.

The interior layout has a clear separation between shared and private spaces.

The front portion encompasses a garage, living room, kitchen and dining area. The back wing holds a media room and four bedrooms, each with their own bathroom.

The owners must pass through the central patio to reach the two different zones.

"The distribution of the spaces and their relationships promote unusual paths through the house, for it is natural to walk through an open space to reach a closed one," the team said.

"In this way, everyday life experiences this relationship of continuity between inside and outside – and through it, contact with nature and the sky."

Other projects in Brasília include a concrete home by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura that has light wells and an angular roof, and an all-white home by Bloco Arquitetos that is composed of irregularly stacked boxes.

The photography is by Joana França.

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Brazilian architecture studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura has built a concrete home in Brasília made up of three volumes, each lit by a central light well carved out of its angular roof.

Completed last year, the 300-square-metre residence was designed to provide a clear distinction between its various programme elements with a simple structural concept. Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura, a firm based in Brasília and São Paulo, did this by dividing the home into three roughly equal blocks.

"A plot with three different levels and a simple structural system were the architectural starting points that defined the logic that this brutalist house was built with," explained the architects.

Each of the volumes has an angular roof that pitches towards the centre, forming a light well. The roofs are supported by four internal columns, and four exterior pillars that are taller.

"This set of concrete structural elements delivers the architecture of the house, and stands out on the facade and in the internal environments," said Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura.

"The decision to leave them in their pure state, showing the material that they are made of, is intentional, so it is clear how the house was conceived," they added.

Following the slope of the project's site, the first cube-shaped volume contains the home's communal areas. The architects laid out the living areas with a variety of seating arrangements surrounding the light well, which contains a small tree.

In addition to the roof's concrete surface, which is visible throughout the residence, the architects included a variety of finishes that reference Brasília's strong modernist heritage.

"The interior's wood flooring and freijó wood panels warm the environment, and bring cosiness to a project where brutalism is present in its most rustic state," said Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura, who added that their goal for the interiors was "balance".

A few steps down is an area referred to as the services block, which contains the kitchen and a guest suite. This area brings a touch of colour to the house, with green cabinets and furniture.

In the intermediate space between the kitchen and living room, the architects included a semi-circular nook with a breakfast table that offers a space for more casual meals.

Lastly, the bedrooms are located at the lowest point of the home. These rooms have tall glass walls that slide open, extending the resident's quarters to a wraparound patio outside, which is partially shaded by the overhanging roofline.

Brasília is a modernist city that was designed in the 20th century by Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, and Roberto Burle Marx. Last year, Italian architect Carlo Ratti revealed plans for a tech campus designed as an extension to the iconic grid of the original city.

Debaixo do Blocos Arquitetura has also completed a renovation to a 1960s apartment in the Brazilian capital, opening up its layout to suit the growing needs of a young family.

The photography is by Joana França.

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Italian architect Carlo Ratti has designed a masterplan for a high-tech innovation district in Brasília that will be an extension to the Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer-designed city.

The one-million-square-metre district called BIOTIC will be located at the northern tip of the Brasília UNESCO World Heritage site on a triangular plot of land near to the city's National Park.

Designed as a high-tech innovation hub, Ratti's development is intended to solve some of the issues caused by the fragmentation of activities in Brasília, which was arranged by urban planner Costa and architect Niemeyer in 1955.

"The first time I visited Brasília, a friend and long-time city resident told me a long-standing joke: 'You know what the problem of Brasília is? The district of cafes is far away from the district of sugar'," Ratti explained.

"In short, a key issue lies with the lack of mixed-use and with the strictly functional subdivision of the city according to modernist principles – which we are aiming to overcome with our plan."

BIOTIC will include the four urban scales that Costa defined in the plan of Plano Piloto, or Pilot Project, as residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic.

Unlike the original design, it will integrate them with each other rather than keeping them separate.

"Brasília is a fascinating metropolis: a monumental axis and two wings that captivate you when you look at it from the plane," Ratti added.

"However as French intellectual Simone de Beauvoir once said, 'Brasília is an expanse of elegant monotony [...] The street, that meeting ground of […] passers-by, of stores and houses, of vehicles and pedestrians [...] does not exist in Brasília and never will," he continued.

"Our project aims to counter this proposition and bring a new vibrancy to Brasília."

BIOTIC's design also subverts Brasília's Superquadra, or Superblock, which refers to the way the city's residential areas are arranged in blocks composed of apartment buildings within green spaces.

This project, however, will divide similar blocks into quadrants to create open plazas and internal streets that are accessible only to self-driving or shared vehicles.

Ratti's studio, Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA), said it will also use digital technologies to make sure occupants are able to have access to as much nature as possible. As part of this, the plan proposes making restaurants and cafes spots for smart working, with curtain-like walls that can open up to outdoor work areas called the Outdoor Office.

"The office buildings, hovering above the ground level, are designed for sun and wind to come in," CRA project manager James Schrader explained.

"Thanks to a system of openable wooden facades that can slide along the building like a curtain, the interior spaces will open to the exterior, allowing users to enjoy Brasilia’s weather. This project merges the interior and exterior into one space."

CRA has been working on the proposal for real estate company TerraCap with consultancy firm EY since 2018. BIOTIC, is also expected to feature an ecological park, vegetable gardens, laboratories and retail facilities.

Brasília was founded as the new capital city of Brazil on 21 April 1960, featuring an urban plan by Costa and designed by Niemeyer, the country's most famous architect.

It is a celebrated example of modernist urbanism and was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Brazil's Institutional Security Office (GSI) is planning to place antenna on top of series of Niemeyer-designed palaces to protect the area from drones.

Italian architect Ratti is the founder of international design and architecture studio Carlo Ratti Associati and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he directs the SENSEable City Lab.

His other forward-thinking urban projects include a covered garden in Milan that would use climate-control technology to allow visitors to experience spring, summer, autumn and winter at any time of year. The studio also worked with Alphabet company Sidewalk Labs on a modular paving system that can change the use of a street throughout the day.

Project credits:

CRA team: Carlo Ratti, James Schrader (Project manager), Rui Guan, Federico Riches, Chenyu Xu, Stephanie Lee, Pietro Franceschini, Ben Johnson
CRA graphic team: Gary di Silvio, Pasquale Milieri, Gianluca Zimbardi
Mobility consultancy: MIC - Mobility in Chain
Sustainability strategy: LAND
Engineering consultancy: Ai Engineering

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Brazil's national heritage institute has condemned plans to install anti-drone antennas on top of three Oscar Niemeyer buildings in Brasília, saying they would "directly impact" the iconic structures.

Brazil's Institutional Security Office (GSI) is planning to place a 1.5-metre antenna on top of the Planalto Palace and five-metre antennas on the Alvorado and Jaburu palaces in Brasília to protect the area from drones.

The move follows a previous plan for taller antenna that was turned down by Brazil's preservation agency due to the impact they would have had on the buildings.

Iphan under pressure to approve plans 

The current proposal was sent to Brazil's National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) in June, according to Brasília-based website Metrópoles.

Metrópoles reports that Iphan, which hasn't yet approved the proposal, is being pressured by the government to do so.

GSI had contracted a company to install the system for detecting and neutralising drones, which it says are "becoming commonplace", in the area around Brasília's Planalto, Alvorada and Jaburu.

The latest proposal came after the government's first plan was blocked by Iphan. This had entailed installing larger antennas on all three buildings, with a 20-metre-high antenna placed for the Planalto Palace's roof, a 10-metre-high antenna added to president Jair Bolsonaro's Alvorada residence, and a six-metre-high antenna set on the roof of Jaburu.

All three palaces were designed by iconic Brazilian architect Niemeyer in the 1950s to 1970s as part of his creation of the Brazilian capital.

Anti-drone antennas would directly impact the palaces

Cables supporting the antennas would create a pyramid shape that would notably impact the horizontal lines of Niemeyer's low-rise modernist buildings, which is what led Iphan to block the original proposal in April.

"It must be considered that iconic buildings such as the presidential palaces, historic heritage sites that have been recognized and internationally recognized for their modern architecture, impose limits on interventions, which must be directed towards the least possible impact," stated Iphan at the time.

It concluded that the proposed anti-drone equipment would directly impact the palaces.

The response also set out guidelines for the installation of the equipment, stating: "If they are elements integrated into the architecture of the palaces, the new equipment cannot be visible from the point of view of the observer, so as not to impair the reading of the volumetry of the palaces."

Drones "no longer just for leisure and as a work tool"

Secretary of security general Luiz Fernando Estorilho Baganha, believes that the antenna are necessary due to increased risk to security that drones pose.

"One must consider the urgency that the matter requires, in addition to the presidential security subject being an act provided for by law, the use of drones is no longer just for leisure and as a work tool, but is now used in acts of threat and hostile actions, bringing risks and being increasingly applied for different shady purposes," he said.

"The appearance of drones is becoming commonplace and demonstrating a vulnerability to the security activity of the highest authorities in the executive branch," he added.

Dezeen's film Elevation looked at how transport, deliveries, construction and architecture will be transformed by drones.

They are becoming more commonly used in cities, with New York officials proposing using drones to inspect buildings and MVRDV and Airbus researching landing hubs for passenger drones.

Photograph of Planalto Palace is by Webysther.

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Brazilian studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura has opened up the layout of an apartment in Brasília built in the 1960s to meet a family's contemporary requirements.

The remodelled apartment is located in residential building 308S in Brasília's model superquadra, one of the first completed apartment blocks of the urban design scheme conceived by architect Lucio Costa and landscape architect Burle Marx.

Local studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura reconfigured the apartment's standard layout, which split the main living areas into two separate spaces.

In the updated floor plan the exposed concrete walls are cut open to form a single, shared space for the family to gather.

The studio was careful to preserve modernist design elements in the apartment, including its granilite flooring and white cobogo screens.

"The project is summed up in an exaltation of the Brazilian architecture lighting what is most typical in the city's residences and buildings while joining the modernist and contemporary office technologies and references," said the studio.

Black cabinetry with corrugated glass doors contrasts with the white countertops in the kitchen. Natural light passes through the square cut-outs on the cobogo wall to brighten the narrow space.

In the living room low-lying wood shelving units wrap around the space forming a bench in front of the large windows and a surface for storing objects along the interior wall. The lounge is furnished with a grey couch and wood tables.

In the dining area and library, a massive wooden bookshelf is stacked with books and audio equipment.

Three doorways that lead to the bedrooms and bathroom are concealed within the unit, which the studio custom-built.

In the master bedroom, the backside of the shelf forms a decorative wall of wood panelling. Opposite the large windows, a row of black doors creates a closet that doubles as a doorway to enter the bathroom situated between the two bedrooms.

Walls in the shared bathroom are clad with vertically-laid green tiles. A large rectangular mirror hangs above the wood vanity, which is topped with two circular sink basins.

The existing cobogo screen and concrete wall from the kitchen continue into the second bedroom. In this bedroom the closet is covered with a series of mirrors that reflect the space's wood furnishings and the decorative window treatment.

Several of the wood furniture pieces in the apartment are designed by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura architect Clay Rodrigues. The studio also cut a hole into the cobogo wall so the client's cats could access their litter box.

Brazilian studio Bloco Arquitetos also renovated an apartment on the same building block in Brasília. As part of the remodel the studio added sliding translucent glass walls.

Other projects by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura, which translates to English as Under the Block, include an abandoned hospital transformed into a contemporary art gallery.

Photography is by Joana France.

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Brazilian studio Bloco Arquitetos has stripped back an apartment in Brasília built in the 1960s and added in translucent glass to reveal the existing concrete block facade.

308 S apartment is located in Brasília's model superquadra, which is one of the first completed apartment blocks of the urban design plan conceived by architect Lucio Costa and landscape architect Burle Marx.

Since it was first built in the 1960s the 154-square-metre, three-bedroom unit has undergone several remodels that changed the apartment's original finishes and materials.

For this renovation, Bloco Arquitetos concentrated on reconfiguring the layout to open the main living areas to the building's gridded facade that controls airflow.

"The main objective was to replace some of the walls and partitions by translucent elements and to directly connect the new dining room, the kitchen and the main bedroom's private bath to the building's naturally ventilated facade," the studio said.

This involved replacing existing walls with a series of translucent sliding glass doors and partitions. They separate the kitchen from the dining and living area and form a hallway leading the bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms were also reduced in size to make room for the open-plan dining space.

The sliding door is outlined with a black frame and topped with a set of rectangular windows that can rotate to increase airflow within the space.

During the renovation, the studio exposed parts of the original concrete construction and left several of the beams and walls bare. The worn structures are paired with bright white walls and hardwood flooring boards cut in a variety of sizes.

It also restored several sets of mechanical metal blinds, which are original to the apartment, and installed them along the back-facing windows.

A lattice-like wall with square cutouts forms the building's exterior and spans across the front of the unit where the kitchen and master bathroom are located. The studio has inserted a row of green plants between the facade and the interior wall structure.

In the all-white kitchen and bathroom the island and vanity counter are cut from Branco São Paulo, a matte-finished granite that the studio has also used as flooring.

Other details like the grey stone and white tiles covering the bathroom walls are intended to reference typical Brasília architecture from the 1960s and 70s.

Bathroom vanities are constructed with plywood, while the other wood shelving units and cabinets throughout the apartment are crafted with industrial MDF and finished with matte white paint.

A number of furniture pieces in the apartment were designed by Brazilian creatives.

Examples include the circular purple rug in the living room by architect Rodrigo Ohtake, the slender-framed armchairs created by Jorge Zalszupin in the 1960s and the dining chairs and stools from Brazilian furniture brand Cremme.

Bloco Arquitetos founded in 2008 is led by architects Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco. The studio has completed several residential projects in Brasília including a house with a covered patio supported by 10 concrete structures and a white residence with angular volumes.

Photography is by Joana França.

Project credits:

Architects: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco
Collaborators: Giovanni Cristofaro, Bárbara Neumann and Fernando Longhi
Contractor: Grid Engenharia

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A latticed concrete-and-ceramic roof hangs from 10 concrete structures to shade the patio of this house in Brasília designed by local studio Bloco Arquitetos.

Called Portico House, the project is in a residential area on the outskirts of Brazil's capital city and measures 290 square metres.

The residence is fronted by a patio that is enclosed by concrete beams and columns that wrap over a roof, which partially covers the outdoor area.

The roof that hangs below is formed from slender concrete beams and ceramic brick that were attached in blocks on-site to the frames. Bloco Arquitetos chose this modular method to allow for precast joints in the slabs to align with the underside of the main concrete beam.

"The structure of the house consists of 10 identical concrete porticoes, 760 centimetres wide, and connected by 'volterran' slabs composed of latticed concrete beams and holed ceramic bricks," Bloco Arquitetos said. "This way, the slabs are 'hanging' on the beams, rather than resting on them."

The studio, which created a similar rib-like concrete structure to frame Casa Vila Rica in Brasília, said it designed this structure to experiment with low-cost materials in Brazil. The single-storey residence also features concrete, brick, clay tiles and large expanses of glass.

"In this project we tested an alternative form of articulation between two conventional elements of Brazilian construction: the cast concrete structure and the precast concrete and ceramic block," it said. "The premises adopted were the use of low-cost materials and the adoption of low maintenance solutions."

Portico House's prefabricated design also harnesses the construction skills that were available in the region. "Modulation provided a simple execution adapted to the available labour," the studio added.

The lattice roof stretches from the terrace to the interiors, which feature a similarly simple material paletted.

Inside, the home comprises an open-plan living room, dining area and kitchen, which has pale wood cabinets and dark grey counters.

A long concrete counter overlooks the sitting area and is supported by exposed concrete pillars. Clay tiles cover the floors, walls are white, and more concrete details create a uniform aesthetic that blends with the exteriors. Three bedrooms and three bathrooms complete the home.

Bloco Arquitetos designed a number of houses in Brasília, including Morrone House and House of Courtyards.

The studio was founded in the city in 2008, and is led by architects Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco. It seeks to design buildings with limited materials and local labour, in order to reframe people's understanding of Brazilian architecture.

"The scarcity of skilled labour and the low development of the construction industry are part of the reality that influences our work in Brasilia," it said.

"Thus, we consider that the imperfection and inaccuracy inherent in the traditional method of construction used in the region are characteristics that need to be understood in the 'low-tech' Brazilian construction, to be better qualified, reframed and reinterpreted in our architecture."

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Collaborator: Victor Machado
Contractor: Grid Engenharia

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Design firms Bloco Arquitetos and Equipe Lamas used a mix of warm and cool materials in their refurbishment of a visitor centre in Brasília, designed by the late architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960s.

The project, called the Revitalisation of Oscar Niemeyer's Tea House, is located in the planned city of Brasília, which is the federal capital of Brazil. Established in 1960, Brasília features a number of modern-style buildings designed by the late architect Niemeyer.

The Tea House sits within Praça dos Três Poderes, or Three Powers Plaza, and serves as a tourist information centre. Partially sunken below ground, the 250-square-metre building has glazed walls and an overhanging, white roof.

The building, which opened in 1966, has undergone various changes over the decades. Local studios Bloco Arquitetos and Equipe Lamas were hired to refresh the interior in a way that was sympathetic to the original design.

"The goal was to restore Oscar Niemeyer's project – honouring the past and furnishing the space with contemporary pieces that connect with the capital's aesthetic and modernist spirit," the team said.

When it opened in the 1970s, the building was intended to serve as a place for meetings and rest. It was abandoned at some point due to political complications and the lack of a tenant, according to the architects.

In 1994, it reopened as the Tourist Assistance Center, but it was closed six years later due to concerns over a potential roof collapse. After structural modifications, the centre reopened in 2010.

In recent years, the Secretariat of Tourism and Unesco hired Bloco Arquitetos to revitalise the space. Architect Samuel Lamas, who co-leads Equipe Lamas, was chosen to design the furnishings.

The team freshened up the white marble floors and walls. Window frames were cleaned, and ceilings and pillars were repainted using colours from the original design.

The furnishings, all by Lamas, are meant to complement the architecture. Black iron is paired with warm materials such as wood and leather. Hues of peach, yellow and tan lend a softness to the atmosphere.

The reception area received a Deia couch, a Sandra armchair, a Jamile coffee table and a Janice side table. In a central seating area, the team placed Sonia sofas and armchairs, a Ruy coffee table and bench, and a Caroline side table.

A space reserved for showing maps and books was fitted with a Caroline table, João chairs and a Carlos shelf.

Overall, the furnishings are meant to look light and streamlined, while being sturdy enough to handle daily visitors.

"The use of geometry and pure forms are explored in the products," the team said. "With simplicity and architectural reasoning, the furniture has delicate metallic profiles that reach the maximum lightness without compromising the functionality."

Other projects in the Brasília area include a dwelling by Samuel Lamas that features ample glazing and numerous gardens, and a house by Bloco Arquitectos that consists of rectilinear, all-white volumes that push outward and pull inward.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Architects: Bloco Arquitetos and Equipe Lama
Participants: Quadra Interior, Secretaria de Turismo do DF, Unesco Brasil

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Brazilian studio Bloco Arquitetos has designed a spacious family home comprising irregularly stacked boxes, which form a series of courtyards and terraces.

Totalling 950 square metres, the House of Courtyards is located in a residential part of Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil. For a flat site lacking vegetation, the team conceived a cluster of stark, rectilinear volumes that push outward and pull inward. Portions of the home cantilever over the site and form sheltered areas.

"The project was designed using an orthogonal grid of 3.65 by 3.65 metres, placed diagonally in relation to the lot," said local firm Bloco Arquitetos in a project description.

Exterior walls are made of white-painted ceramic brick and vast expanses of glass. Recessed windows are shaded by short eaves that help reduce solar heat gain.

The home's primary openings are situated on the north – a vantage point that allows views of Brasília's city centre, located about 10 kilometres away. This elevation also overlooks a verdant yard with a swimming pool.

House of Courtyards is surrounded by paved surfaces, stretches of grass and young trees. Walkways are lined with lush grasses and flowering shrubs – all of which are native to the region.

"The landscape design makes use of the 'cerrado' vegetation (Brazilian savannah) that is typical in this part of the country," the team said.

An extensive programme was distributed across two levels. Public areas are located on the ground level, along with the clients' home offices, which face a patio. The main bedrooms were placed on the upper floor.

"All parts of the programme are clearly separated, although the uniform volumetric composition sets no hierarchy between the functions," the team said. "The intention was to disperse the built volume following only the criteria of desired views, privacy and solar orientation for each room."

Many rooms are afforded a direct connection to one of the home's six courtyards. On the upper floor, bedrooms open onto grassy terraces. At the very top of the home, a "sightseeing terrace" is accessed via an open staircase clad in white stone.

Interior finishes include white walls, and wood flooring and cabinetry. All of the furniture was brought from the family's previous residence.

Bloco Arquitetos is known for creating stark homes composed of white geometric forms. Other projects by the studio include the Morrone House and the Cora House, both also located in Brasília.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

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Brazilian firm Bloco Arquitetos has completed a white house in the country's capital, comprising geometric blocks that create an interplay of shadow and light.

Morrone House is a two-storey family home in a residential neighbourhood close to the Plano Piloto administrative area of Brasília.

Based in the city, Bloco Arquitetos Associados designed the house with an outdoor entry hall, and multiple skylights and indented spaces. Its top portion is offset from the ground volume, creating a tiered design.

Flanked by houses of similar height, Morrone House's minimal design and stark white exterior contrast with its neighbours to create a strong aesthetic.

"Due to the massive buildings of the neighbours, we decided to prioritise the inner visuals, alternating constructed spaces and empty spaces, increasing the amount of natural light into the house," said Bloco Arquitetos.

The studio sought to make the most of the lot and constructed the house across the full buildable area. "From this point we subtracted parts of the volume, creating five main voids," the team said.

The first "void" is in front of the house on the ground floor and incorporates an existing pequi tree – a species protected by law – as part of an internal garden.

This courtyard is framed by the outdoor entryway, a guest room and a two-car garage.

At the centre of the home, the second "void" works as a lightwell for a living room, where sliding glass doors lead to a patio, outdoor kitchen and swimming pool.

Completing the ground floor is a dining area, a kitchen and bathroom. A white marble staircase provides access to three bedrooms and three bathrooms on the upper level.

The third is a roofless extension of one of the bathrooms, which features an outdoor bathtub, while the fourth houses the main entrance of the house.

The fifth and final "void" partially covers the outdoor pool and creates a shaded area along the patio.

Outdoor steps lead to a rooftop terrace, while the rear of the property has a grassy lawn surrounded by bushes to soften its construction.

Much of the home's interior decor is minimal, in line with its exterior. It features warm wood floors and white walls, while terracotta tiles are used for outdoor areas.

Bloco Arquitetos has completed another house in Brasília with similar "voids," known as Cora House, while the firm's Casa Vila Rica on the outskirts of the city features concrete ribs that extend across brick walls.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Project team: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho, Matheus Seco
Collaborators: Victor Machado, Marina Lira, Guilherme Mahana, Daniel Dubugras

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A sloped roof tops this white house in Brazil's capital, which architecture studio Bloco Arquitetos built within the initial masterplan for the city.

The local firm designed 711H house for a couple with a child and two dogs.

Built on the foundations of a single-storey home that had been demolished, it is located in a part of the Plano Piloto masterplan that architect and planner Lucio Costa designed for Brasília during the 1950s.

The residence's surrounding area was originally intended to be used for farms and food production, but because of the city's housing needs, it was transformed into a series of tightly packed row houses.

Many of the homes exceed the allowed height limit and face a service alley, which makes the green public spaces in the front derelict and dangerous, according to Bloco Arquitetos. The studio's scheme for the 711H house aims to reverse this trend.

The team uncovered and restored the front yard back into a garden. Two pairs of white metallic screens front the space to offer the residents privacy and provide access to the public green space in front of the house.

"It acknowledges the present reality, and its official and unofficial rules of occupation, and aims to recover the activation of the green strip that is adjacent to the house," said Bloco Arquitetos.

With a white exterior that also differentiates it from its surroundings, the house is topped by a mono-pitched roof that connects the different roof heights of its two immediate neighbours.

"The form of the roof is generated by an imaginary line connecting the highest point that is officially allowed for the constructions in the neighbourhood to the slightly sloped roof of the construction on the other side," said the firm.

A second set of perforated metal doors are placed on the inner side of the courtyard, as part of the front wall of the house. One folds open to lead into the long and narrow, kitchen, living and dining room. The other provides access to a pair of bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms that run down the southern side.

As most of the old structure and foundations were condemned, the studio rebuilt the ground floor using laminated steel beams and columns with exposed concrete blocks forming the partition walls. All are painted white to match the exterior.

Concrete ceilings and floors are left exposed and complemented by furnishings with rough finishes, like the dining table that extends from the kitchen counter and a bench in the living area. Plants in terracotta pots are dotted throughout to offset these more neutral tones.

A black staircase leads up to the middle of the new first floor, which the studio constructed from concrete blocks.

Because of the steep slope of the roof, all the functions are placed along the southern side where the pitch is at its highest. A large terrace, where the residents' dogs can bathe in the sun, occupies the north-west end.

Glazed doors from the terrace lead into the master bedroom at the front. The space is adjoined by a long closet featuring windows to a small void in the residence, and an en-suite bathroom.

A study and a small home office are set to back on this floor.

Bloco Arquitetos was founded by architects Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco. The firm recently completed another home nearby, made of longitudinal concrete ribs and red brick infill.

Along with Costa's masterplan, Brasília is well-known for its modernist architecture by Oscar Niemeyer. His building that serves as the presidential palace is feared haunted by the country's current leader.

Photography is by Joana França.

Project credits:

Architecture firm: Bloco Arquitetos
Project team: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco
Collaborators: Fernando Longhi, Giovanni Cristofaro and Elisa Albuquerque

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Brazilian studio Debaixo do Bloco has stripped back the curved corner of a former hospital to create this art gallery in Brasília.

The local architects renovated a 105-square-metre space inside an abandoned hospital – built in the Brazilian capital in the 1950s – to create art gallery and events space Galeria Meia 1.

The overhaul began by ripping out the partitioning walls, revealing a concrete structure comprising three curved beams supported by a series columns.

After exposing the structure, the studio chose to make it the centrepiece of the design. White ceiling slabs are placed either side to frame and support the beams, while minimal finishes were choses to complement its rough texture.

"The preservation of this [unusual structure] and emphasising it in the project became the premise of this work," said Debaixo do Bloco, which translates to English as Under the Block. "The concrete and structures are without finishes to maintain a rustic appearance, and reveal the imperfections and the authenticity of the space."

Translucent glass shutters are fitted along the curved wall at the front of the gallery to allow plenty of daylight inside, as well as maintaining privacy. The windows are placed on pivots, opening to the garden.

White netted curtains run along the front of this glazed wall to offer more privacy and reduce glare.

Existing cement boards lining the walls were left exposed, while dark grey floor slabs provide a neutral backdrop for artwork on show. The workbench at the back of the space features a sanded black sandstone base, topped with an angular slab of white Carrara marble to also complement these tones.

Most of the furnishings selected for the gallery feature brown hues to offset the monochrome backdrop. Among the pieces is a low-level brown leather chair, which is placed between the concrete columns beneath a large standing lamp.

Other furnishings include a hammock-like chair covered in animal fur, a sofa set along one wall, and wooden side tables. There is also a pair of grey chairs with wooden frames and rugs with geometric patterns that brighten up the space.

"In the middle of this grey and white climate, the furniture was purposely chosen in caramels, natural leather and wood to bring the warmth to the gallery and prevent the environment from staying cold," said the studio.

Gallery Six 1 is currently showcasing the work of Brazilian artist Christus Nobrega in an exhibition that will run until 8 November 2017.

Under the Block Architecture's renovation is one of many projects that focus on reusing buildings in creative ways. Examples include the transformation of a former Copenhagen coal crane into private retreat and a sex shop that was converted into tiny Japanese art gallery.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

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Concrete ribs extend across the brick walls of this house on the outskirts of Brasília, Brazil, which Bloco Arquitetos has designed as two pavilion-like structures linked by an outdoor path.

Casa Vila Rica is located 40 kilometres away from the centre of the Brazilian capital city on a gentle slope overlooking a valley filled with native vegetation.

Bloco Arquitetos designed the house in response to the local climate, which includes a dry season and a period of rainfall that typically lasts for four to five months.

The residence is raised above the ground on a concrete platform to prevent large insects and wild animals like snakes from entering the house.

The house is divided into two perpendicular wings, which are elevated to different heights to accommodate the changing level of the site.

One of the wings is occupied by the lounge, kitchen and dining room, while the other hosts the bedrooms.

Steps and walkways that link the two are placed on the exterior so the residents can make the most of the warm climate, but shelter is provided by the eaves of the flat concrete roofs.

Solid brick walls are slotted between the concrete structure, echoing the material palette the architects used for a house extension for a family in Brasília.

The architects left the materials exposed to reflect the building techniques of the local area, and to save time on extra finishes.

"We have decided to use the expression of the materials in its raw state, accepting the imperfections of the local manual labour and its limitations," the architects explained.

"The idea was to minimise the extensive labour that is normally used for the finishings such as plaster or paint and to have materials that would age well without the need for constant maintenance."

The materials also form other features of the residence, including a concrete bookshelf in the lounge and the brick hearth and log store of the outdoor fire place.

Large expanses of glazing make up walls in the living areas to offer views to the gravelled courtyard and the swimming pool outside.

Clerestory windows are slotted into the walls of more private spaces like bedrooms, while bathrooms feature open-air voids that bring natural light and ventilation.

Inside, the architects selected a simple material palette, including exposed concrete flooring. Other details include the dining table, which is made of concrete, and the stone kitchen counter and wooden kitchen cabinets.

Bloco Arquitetos designed another house in the city inspired by the principles of modernist architect Adolf Loos.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Project: Bloco Arquitetos
Authors: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho, Matheus Seco
Collaboration: Victor Machado
Structural engineer: André Torres
Installations: Vitor Silvério

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Brazilian studio Studio MK27 has rotated the top volume of this concrete house in Brasília so it extends out over a narrow swimming pool to rest on a pair of stilts.

Osler House is located at top of one of the Paranoá Lake estuaries in Brazil's capital, which was masterplanned in 1958 by famous modernist architects Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer.

This prompted Studio MK27 to design the residence as a contemporary update of the style. It draws on key features, with two boxy concrete volumes placed at right angles and pilotis raising the upper volume above ground.

"The house is a poetic commentary on modern architecture, above all on Brazilian modernism, starting from a contemporary re-reading of the building materials and techniques," Studio MK27 explained.

Other nods to the 20th-century style include the large expanses of glazing, which are indented on both sides of the upper storey.

Each includes doors that slide open to provide the kitchen, living and dining room with access to a pair of terraces on the roof of the lower volume.

A paired-back concrete staircase with no handrail leads from one of the terraces to the pool and deck area, which is shaded at one end by the volume above.

Wooden brise-soleils running along the ground floor block filter light into the bedrooms. The wooden slats are hinged so that they can be opened up fully to the garden.

These perforated screens were also an important part of Brazil's modernist style steered by the country's tropical climate.

A neutral style was chosen for the interior of the house, which is intentionally furnished with low-level pieces to maintain views from the windows.

Brazilian painter and sculptor Athos Bulcão, who has created designs for classic buildings in Brasília, has made tiles to cover one wall. It features dark circles and semi-circles intermingled with a dotted blue version.

This wall runs alongside the main staircase, which features short treads that overlap each other.

Marcio Kogan founded Studio MK27 in São Paulo in the 1980s. The studio, which ranked 95th in Dezeen's inaugural Hot List, has completed a number of residences in Brazil.

Examples include a 65-metre-long house in the Brazilian countryside and a residence in the rainforest that features a rooftop infinity pool.

Photography is by Pedro Vannucchi.

Project credits:

Architecture: Studio MK27
Project team: Marcio Kogan and Suzana Glogowski, Diana Radomysler
Interiors: Studio MK27

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The Brazilian president has moved out of his official residence in Brasília, designed by the late architect Oscar Niemeyer, after sensing "bad energy" and fearing it could be haunted.

Michel Temer, 76, and his wife Marcela, 33, have deserted the Palácio da Alvorada, completed by Niemeyer in 1958, because of its spooky atmosphere.

"I felt something strange there," Temer told local news source Veja. "I wasn't able to sleep right from the first night. The energy wasn't good."

"Marcela felt the same thing. Only [seven-year-old son] Michelzinho, who went running from one end to the other, liked it."

"We even started to wonder: could there be ghosts?" he added.

The first lady reportedly called in a priest to drive out evil spirits, but this was apparently unsuccessful.

Therefore the family has moved back into the smaller Jaburu Palace, which usually serves as the vice president's home. The house has been empty since Temer was elevated to the presidency, following the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff last year.

The 7,000-square-metre Palácio de Alvorada – or Alvorada Palace – is situated on a peninsula that juts into the Paranoa lake, and boasts a swimming pool, a chapel, a cinema and a heliport.

Its distinctive facade features a colonnade of swooping concrete elements, which were once scaled down to create a cross-shaped vase.

The palace is one of several modernist buildings designed by Niemeyer in the 1950s, including government offices and the impressive cathedral, as part of his masterplan for Brasília.

As Brazil's most famous architect, many of Niemeyer's projects across the country and internationally have been restored after his death in 2012, aged 104.

The most recent include his Haifa University library building in Israel and the Hotel Nacional in Rio de Janeiro.

Photograph is by Ricardo Stuckert.

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Living spaces at this house near Brasília are contained in a cluster of offset boxes with full-height glazing that faces out onto gardens slotted between them.

House 28 was designed by local architect Samuel Lamas for a family looking for a home that would offer an enhanced connection with nature, on a site that is just ten minutes from the Brazilian capital.

Situated on a 7,000-square-metre plot, the 850-square-metre house is surrounded by plants and trees that form a part of the cerrado, or Brazilian savannah.

The house's design seeks to ensure its occupants feel constantly connected to the landscape. This is achieved in part by extending gardens planted with native species into spaces between the built volumes.

Living areas and bedrooms are staggered in plan around these outdoor spaces and feature ceilings that differ in height depending on their use.

"Varieties of perspectives are revealed while walking through the house," said Lamas. "The rooms have different heights that confirm a spatial hierarchy."

Walls give way wherever possible to timber-framed windows and openings, which create a visual connection as well as seamless circulation between the rooms and outdoor spaces.

"The large window frames are mostly positioned east-west and the walls north-south," said Lamas. "This orientation allows a dramatic natural light effect during sunshine or sunset and open views across the house."

Three bedroom suites are accommodated at the eastern end of separate wings, ensuring each feels private and secluded. The suites open onto small terraces featuring a metal trellis covered with climbing plants.

Internal and external walls are finished with a rough polymer mortar that recalls the reddish tone of the local soil and is complemented by floor tiles with a similar hue.

Window frames are made from ipe wood and the roof is formed from pre-weathered steel that also contributes to a raw and natural material palette.

Coloured tiles used in the entrance, dining area and kitchen introduce colour and pattern in areas where carpet or rugs would have proven impractical.

The main living area is lined with folding glass doors that open onto a sheltered poolside terrace.

The tiled floor and wooden ceiling extend into this space to help enhance the sense of continuity between inside and outside.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

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A metal and glass volume containing offices rests on a concrete base that encloses a public courtyard at this headquarters for the National Confederation of Municipalities in Brasília.

The 10, 488-square-metre office block was designed by São Paulo studio Mira Arquitetos for the independent organisation, which represents local municipalities to Brazil's federal government and the national congress.

The building is located on a site containing a cluster of governmental departments, close to the Esplanada dos Ministérios, an area at the end of the Eixo Monumental in the city.

The National Confederation of Municipalities is intended to slot into its urban context and is incorporated within an area of landscaping.

A monolithic concrete basement containing two levels of car parking extends above ground to form a perimeter that encloses a paved courtyard.

This communal courtyard is flanked by a large auditorium on one side and a series of smaller rooms on the other, with glazed walls providing a visual connection between indoors and outdoors.

"The design of the ground floor was the guiding principle of the proposal," said the architects. "We have created a square, slightly sunken in relation to the mid-level of the terrain, which unfolds on two levels and results in a new topography for the lot."

The ground floor spaces also include a restaurant and a foyer situated within a multi-storey void. This void also incorporates circulation that leads to the office areas on the levels above.

A bridge that traverses the foyer space provides a dedicated access route to the offices. An external staircase extending between this upper level and the courtyard ensures visitors can access the auditorium from the courtyard without affecting the office workers.

"The ground floor has two purposes," said the architects, "it is both support for the settlement of the new set and an interface with the city."

The double-height block containing the auditorium supports a further perpendicular volume that features glazed facades shielded behind a horizontal metal grille.

This elongated glass box contains the main administrative spaces, which receive plenty of natural light and look out across the surrounding neighbourhood.

Large concrete columns support a section of the office volume that cantilevers over a shallow pool on the roof of one of the ground-floor blocks. At the other end, the horizontal box extends over another narrower pool above the restaurant.

Photography is by Leonardo Finotti and Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Architects: Mira arquitetos (Luís Eduardo Loiola and Maria Cristina Motta)
Collaborators: Ana Carolina Sumares, Luís Felipe da Conceição, Marcelo Ribas, Luisa Leme Simoni, Gabriela Lira Dalsecco
Structure: Kurkdjian e Fruchtengarten Engenheiros Associados
, Mag Solos Engenheiros Associados
MEP: MHA Engenharia
Lighting: Lux projetos
Frames: Dinafex
Landscape design: Gabriela Ornaghi
Constructor: Soltec Engenharia

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Bloco Arquitetos has created an extra storey for a family home in Brasília by adding a stilted concrete structure that incorporates panels of perforated brickwork.

The local practice designed Casa Grid for a client who had bought a large lot containing an existing property in the Lago Sul neighbourhood of the Brazilian capital.

The architects were tasked with adapting and expanding the existing single-storey house to suit the lifestyle of its new occupants.

The previous owner had initially planned a much larger two-storey building and had laid extensive foundations, but had run out of money and so constructed a small bungalow with a pitched roof.

The clients purchased the property because of its central location in a quiet residential area and the generous plot, which offered an opportunity to expand while reusing some of the existing building to reduce costs.

"The intention here was to build a bigger house in the same lot with a budget that was 35 per cent lower than what was expected for a brand new home," said Bloco Arquitetos.

"The idea to lower the final cost of the construction was to take advantage of the existing structure and reuse part of the existing walls."

Both existing and new foundations were used to support a concrete grid that extends out from the original building.

"The new grid works as a graft, connecting old walls and new ones and supporting the additional programme of the extension," explained the architects.

Featuring columns of two different widths, the concrete framework accommodates surfaces of varying opacity, including solid walls, perforated brick screens and large windows.

The brick panels feature patterns that vary in their density depending on the amount of light and privacy required within the interior.

A pair of steel-framed structures added at the front and rear of the property accommodate a garage, an outdoor kitchen and a sauna.

A paved pathway leads from the street towards the main entrance, which is set into a glazed portion of one of the facades.

The path is bordered with turf on one side and passes a tree growing in a yard that is partly shaded by an elevated section of the brick screen.

Immediately inside the entrance, a lounge area containing a large red sofa landscape is lined on three sides with glazed surfaces.

Sliding doors incorporated into the glazing enable this space to be opened up to the adjoining outdoor terrace.

Daylight filters into the lounge space through holes in the brickwork, casting a dappled pattern of light and shadow on the floors, walls and furniture.

Next to the living room is a dining area containing a plinth-like set of concrete steps set against an internal wall.

The rest of the staircase leading to the bedrooms on the first floor are contained in a white volume suspended from the ceiling.

Floor-to-ceiling sheer curtains provide an additional layer of privacy to the living spaces.

Along with furnishings featuring wood and leather surfaces, they introduce a softer detail to the otherwise elemental palette of concrete and white walls.

Bloco Arquitetos previously designed another house in the city, which is inspired by the principles of Modernist architect Adolf Loos.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

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The cubic construction of this house in Brasília by local studio Bloco Arquitetos reveals the layout of spaces inside and was influenced by a 1930s villa designed by Modernist architect Adolf Loos (+ slideshow).

The Paineira House was designed by Bloco Arquitetos for a plot in the Brazilian capital dominated by a 15-metre-tall paineira tree.

The house comprises a series of geometric volumes, with different dimensions that reflect the use of the various rooms within.

A corridor extends through the centre of the building to connect two separate blocks, one containing the main living areas and one housing the bedrooms.

The function-led configuration was based on the Villa Müller house designed by early modernist architect Adolf Loos in Prague, where a series of cubic forms create interconnected spaces that are positioned and proportioned to indicate their function and importance.

"Both blocks have similar dimensions on plan, however a sequence of different ceiling heights insinuate the intended uses of each space," the architects explained. "The external form is a direct result of this operation. The articulation of different ceiling heights that suggest the use and the importance of each room refer to Müller House."

The paineira tree's position influenced the plan and orientation of the property, which follows an east-west axis parallel to the adjacent street.

The house's entrance is located between the two blocks and frames a view straight through to a garden at the rear. The tree's location at one end of the building means it is glimpsed through some of the windows.

"Upon entering the residence, the tree is not immediately reviewed," the architects explained in a project description.

"Various openings in walls and ceiling expose the paineira in small bits, which helps mediate the relationship between inside and out as a whole."

The most open area at the western end of the building contains the large living room, including a dining area that opens onto the garden and a lounge topped with a rectangular skylight.

A staircase at the end of the central axis connects this main communal space with a mezzanine room situated in the tallest volume.

A metal grille forms a balustrade along one edge of the mezzanine and is used to fill in a gap above the floor that overlooks the living room.

At the opposite end of the building, the bedrooms are arranged around a square space that is rotated 45 degrees to the main axis.

This creates a distinctively angled volume when viewed from the garden, which intersects with the rooms on either side.

A window at the base of the hallway frames a view of the grass between the external walls, while a skylight set into the apex of the roof illuminates the circulation area from above.

Textured paint with a muted tone is applied to all of the external surfaces, lending the different volumes a homogeneity that emphasises the effects of light and shadow on their surfaces.

A lighter variation of the same colour was used throughout the interior, creating a similar effect and focusing attention on the views of the garden through the various openings.

The work of Adolf Loos is often cited as a source of inspiration by contemporary architects and designers.

Other examples include a brick extension in London with a multi-hued interior based on Loos' experiments with colour and a house in Cologne where the upper floor features rooms with varying ceiling heights.

Photography is by Haruo Mikami.

Project credits:

Authors: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco
Coauthors: Bruno Pessoa (interiors), Rodrigo Scheel (architecture)
Collaboration: Victor Machado, Tatiana Lopes and Guilherme Mahana

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Three 60-metre-high arches crisscross the deck of the Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge in Brasília, which provides the letter J in our alphabetical countdown to Christmas.

Completed in 2002, the 1,200-metre-long cable-stay bridge was designed by Brazilian architect Alexandre Chan in collaboration with structural engineer Mário Vila Verde.

It provides a vehicular and pedestrian crossing over Lake Paranoá between the city centre and the eastern shore, and aligns with the Brazilian capital's Monumental Axis – the huge avenue that is often falsely described as the widest road in the world.

Chan's competition-winning design was based around the idea of a structure that could become an instant icon for the city, rather than just a simple crossing that looks like a normal road.

By creating huge concrete arches that cross the road diagonally, he was able to simplify the bridge's form. Steel cables extend down from each arch in two directions to support the deck, which carries six lanes of vehicular traffic as well as pedestrian and cycle paths.

The structure is named after former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, the man behind the construction of Brasília in the late 1950s, including the commissioning of Oscar Niemeyer to design the city's public buildings. It is also known as the President JK Bridge.

Two years after completing the Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, Chan also unveiled another major Brazilian crossing – the Bridge of Knowledge in Rio de Janeiro, marking the entrance to the 2016 Olympic city.

In the spirit of an advent calendar, Dezeen is counting down the days until Christmas with an A to Z of iconic contemporary bridges. See all the bridges in our A-Zdvent calendar so far »

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Dutch designer Gert-Jan Soepenberg has created a concrete vase that mimics a structural element of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer's Palácio de Alvorada.

The Vase #1 echoes the form of the distinctive cross-shaped columns of Niemeyer's 1958 building in Brasília, which serves as the official residence of the president of Brazil.

"I abstracted the Palácio de Alvorada's strongest shape into a vase that captures the spirit of the building," said Soepenberg.

The vessel is made from concrete using rotation moulding, an industrial process normally used with plastics.

A custom-built machine is used to spin the concrete within a mould, creating the thinnest possible form for the concave vases. The inside is coated with acrylic resin to make it watertight.

"I wanted the vase to look slender and sturdy at the same time, so I searched for a moulding technique that would allow me to form an object in one single piece, without putting strain on any part of the design," Soepenberg said.

"Rotational moulding seemed the way forward because it would allow for making a thin-walled, yet very strong product," he added. "After a lot of broken vases I found a way to make it work."

Soepenberg studied architecture before he moved into product design and remains interested in both disciplines.

"Product design is very similar to architecture, only at a different scale and with a lot more freedom, so much faster," he told Dezeen. "I've long wanted to use my fascination with architecture in a product design."

Soepenberg chose Niemeyer – who died in 2012 – as the first architect to use as inspiration for a planned series of vases.

"Oscar Niemeyer is one of the greatest architects with the best feel for aesthetics and proportions, so it was a logical choice for me to start with him," said Soepenberg.

His next design, inspired by a Frank Lloyd Wright building, will be unveiled in the Ventura Lambrate district during Milan's design week from 14 to 19 April.

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These night shots by New York photographer Andrew Prokos capture some of the buildings designed by late Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in Brasília (+ slideshow).

Andrew Prokos topped the Night Photography category at this year's International Photography Awards with the series, which documents buildings such as the National Congress of Brazil and the Cathedral of Brasília after dark.

"I became fascinated by Oscar Niemeyer’s buildings as works of art in themselves, and the fact that Niemeyer had unprecedented influence over the architecture of the capital during his long lifetime," said Prokos.

Niemeyer, who passed away last year, completed a series of civic and government buildings in the Brazilian capital over the course of his career, following the appointment of Juscelino Kubitschek as president in 1956.

As well as the congress building and cathedral, Niemeyer also designed the Palácio do Planalto - the official workplace of the president - as well as the National Museum of the Republic and Itamaraty Palace.

"I found the city fascinating from a visual perspective," Prokos told Dezeen. "At its best the Niemeyer architecture is elegant and inspired; at the other end of the spectrum there are structures that are straight out of the Soviet era."

See more of Niemeyer's architecture in our earlier slideshow feature.

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News: London studio Weston Williamson has won a competition to design a new athletics stadium for Brasilia with a concept for a shape-shifting structure that opens like a flower in response to wind direction and sunlight.

The competition called for ideas for a 70,000-seat athletics venue and Weston Williamson's winning response features a circular building with a skeletal structure modelled on the wings of a bird in flight.

A series of feather-like sections would make up the animated exterior. Each would be able to shift itself independently, adapting to changing weather and lighting but also creating a spectacle during ceremonial occasions.

"The exterior form of the new athletics stadium reflects the utopian spirit of the Brasilia plan by incorporating a geometry that is ever-changing," said the studio. "The stadium, therefore, has no fixed identity, but alters in relation to the condition of its surroundings."

The base of the stadium would be elevated on a wooden plinth and surrounded by pools of water and trees, using passive cooling to moderate the interior temperature.

The competition, which was organised in connection with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, was intended to be "design constraints free", allowing applicants to "be creative and test the boundaries of what is possible". A $12,000 prize is awarded to the winner.

Other sports venues in Brazil include the National Shooting Centre and the renovated 1960s Mineirão Stadium in Belo Horizonte. See more architecture in Brazil »

Here are a few words from Weston Williamson:

Weston Williamson + Partners Wins First Prize

Weston Williamson + Partners has won 1st prize in the Brasilia Athletics Stadium Competition run in connection with the upcoming Olympics.

The exterior form of the new Athletics Stadium reflects the utopian spirit of the Brasilia plan by incorporating a geometry that is ever-changing. The stadium, therefore, has no fixed identity, but alters in relation to the condition of its surroundings.

The stadium references the iconographic plan for Brasilia, that represents a bird in flight, by incorporating massive feather like structures that envelop the interior. These fine structural elements shift in relation to wind direction and sunlight, meaning that the form is constantly in flux. The movable envelope also acts ceremoniously, reaching upwards to the sky when an event is about to unfold, adding another layer of visual spectacle to the games.

The stadium is situated on a wooden plinth surrounded by water pools and dense greenery which helps to cool the site in the intense heat. A network of shaded facilities is situated beneath this plinth, all lit with top light from perforations within the timber structure above.

The design proposes a fluid icon, suited to an environment that is being continually redefined.

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News: Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer has died in Rio de Janeiro aged 104.

Niemeyer, an inspiration to generations of young Brazilian architects, is best known for designing most of the civic and government building of Brasilia, including the Roman Catholic Cathedral that earned him the 1988 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

He began working as an architect in the 1930s and was influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, although he claimed to be more interested in free-flowing curves than straight lines and modelled a number of his buildings around the figure of a woman's body.

In his home town of Rio de Janeiro, Niemeyer's many projects include the Sambadrome carnival stadium, while others in Brazil encompass the Museum of Contemporary Art across the bay in Niterói and his early Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Belo Horizonte.

Over the course of his nine-decade career he was also responsible for the design of many buildings outside of Brazil, such as the U.N. Secretariat in New York and the Communist Party headquarters in Paris.

Despite his age, Niemeyer never retired from his studio, completing the Centro Niemeyer museum in Spain early last year and more recently designing a collection of sneakers for shoe brand Converse.

The architect had been battling kidney and stomach problems and died of respiratory failure on Wednesday.

Brazil's largest newspaper first announced the news and have named Niemeyer "the concrete poet", while Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Eduardo Paes has declared three days of mourning.

See all our stories about Oscar Niemeyer, including images of some of his most famous projects that come to life when seen through 3D glasses.

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