Articles by Romullo Baratto

“Residencial Casa Atlântica” in Copacabana, Zaha Hadid’s first project in South America, was canceled. O Globo reported the cause as “the delay of the city hall to release the work license and the consequent delay of the launch and inauguration of the project.” The luxury residential condominium was designed in 2013 and should have been opened in time for the Olympics.

The mastery of stone is one of the most impressive features of Portuguese architecture. From the precise cut in fittings to beautiful floor designs, Portuguese architecture carries in its womb an almost born talent to manipulate one of — if not the oldest material used in the history of construction.

The unfinished Tripoli International Fair, designed by Oscar Niemeyer for the Lebanese capital, could become a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. Conceived in the 1960s at the request of the then President Fouad Chéhab, the fair remained a symbol of projected modernity for the country.

The entertainment industry frequently captures unusual architecture from theme parks that explore bygone eras to remote locales in the hills of Las Vegas that often go unseen.

Few residential projects in recent years have attracted as much attention as Ricardo Bofill‘s Muralla Roja. Completed in 1968, the Mediterranean design has benefited from trends of millennial culture, having served as a backdrop for several photographic essays and even music videos.

One of the most influential 20th-century architecture schools, the Bauhaus experienced its glory days in the city of Dessau between 1925 and 1932. Under the direction of Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the emblematic educational complex was a place for work and housing for some of the most renowned personalities of architecture, design, and art of the last century.

Brazil’s National Museum, one of Latin America’s most important museums, was completely destroyed by a fire that started at 7:30 pm on Sunday evening. It housed over 20 million items related to the history of the Americas, many if not all of which were lost.

Across the world, urban clusters have — to a greater or lesser extent — social and economic differences. Reflected in space, these imbalances of income and access to education, health, sanitation, and infrastructure generate ruptures more or less visible – although drastically felt.

The concept and title Walls of Air was conceived as a response to the theme of Freespace proposed by curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara in order to provoke questions about: 1. the different sorts of walls that construct, on multiple scales, the Brazilian territory; 2. the borders of architecture itself in relation to other disciplines.

Portuguese architectural photographer João Morgado shared with us a series of images from Álvaro Siza‘s latest project, the Capela do Monte. This chapel is located in Barão de São João, in the Algarve region of Portugal. Part of the Monte da Charneca complex, Capela do Monte was commissioned in 2016 by a Swiss-American couple residing there.