Collection by Erika Heet

Finotti at Centre Culturel

Just opened at the Centre Culturel in Lomé, Togo, is São Paulo–based photographer Leonardo Finotti’s “Brazil: Architecture in Photography,” featuring 50 contemporary Brazilian projects by 50 different architectural firms from throughout the world. Sponsored by the Brazilian embassy in Togo, the exhibition was several years in the making, and highlights the particular genius of Brazilian architects from Oscar Niemeyer to Bernardes Jacobsen. In a bit of reverent, obsessive architectural acumen, Finotti labeled each photo with a seal that lists the birth year of both the architect and the structure, along with the area in which it is located. The photographs span residences, public and commercial buildings, and housing complexes.

Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, winner of the 1992 Pritzker Award, designed his first Brazilian project, the Fundacao Iberé Camargo in Porto Alegre, on a sliver of land along the Guaíba River. Finished in 2008, the museum will eventually house 50 years’ worth of paintings, drawings, gouaches and prints by Brazilian artist Iberé Camargo. The building won the Golden Lion award at the 2002 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, winner of the 1992 Pritzker Award, designed his first Brazilian project, the Fundacao Iberé Camargo in Porto Alegre, on a sliver of land along the Guaíba River. Finished in 2008, the museum will eventually house 50 years’ worth of paintings, drawings, gouaches and prints by Brazilian artist Iberé Camargo. The building won the Golden Lion award at the 2002 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Paulo Jacobsen, Thiago Bernardes and Bernardo Jacobsen, of the Brazilian firm Bernardes Jacobsen are known for their low-slung or elevated modern residential designs, such as this house on the sand in Camaçari, Bahia, whose central spaces are off a long upstairs gallery doubling as an open breezeway.
Paulo Jacobsen, Thiago Bernardes and Bernardo Jacobsen, of the Brazilian firm Bernardes Jacobsen are known for their low-slung or elevated modern residential designs, such as this house on the sand in Camaçari, Bahia, whose central spaces are off a long upstairs gallery doubling as an open breezeway.
Vinícius Andrade and Marcelo Morettin, of Andrade Morettin Arquitetos designed the Aimberé residential building to include 12 varying units with flexible floorplans on nine levels, and set it back from the street with a garden in front to provide what the architects call “a breathing space for both the building and the street,” and to further separate the structure from the bustle of São Paulo. Some units open to the front garden, with the upper units utilizing the rooftop solarium.
Vinícius Andrade and Marcelo Morettin, of Andrade Morettin Arquitetos designed the Aimberé residential building to include 12 varying units with flexible floorplans on nine levels, and set it back from the street with a garden in front to provide what the architects call “a breathing space for both the building and the street,” and to further separate the structure from the bustle of São Paulo. Some units open to the front garden, with the upper units utilizing the rooftop solarium.
The Burle Marx Educational Center at Inhotim, a museum complex amid a botanical garden whose landscaping was inspired by architect and landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx. Architects Alexandre Brasil Garcia and Paula Zasnicoff Cardoso designed the center as a point of entry leading to the exhibition pavilions that would blend seamlessly with the setting, which includes a lake that was integrated into the architecture in the form of extended concrete slabs that appear to float on the water.
The Burle Marx Educational Center at Inhotim, a museum complex amid a botanical garden whose landscaping was inspired by architect and landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx. Architects Alexandre Brasil Garcia and Paula Zasnicoff Cardoso designed the center as a point of entry leading to the exhibition pavilions that would blend seamlessly with the setting, which includes a lake that was integrated into the architecture in the form of extended concrete slabs that appear to float on the water.
Located on Harmonia Street on the west side of São Paulo, the Harmonia 57 residential building was designed by Olivier Raffaëlli, Gregory Bousquet, Guillaume Sibaud and Carolina Bueno of the French-Brazilian architectural firm Triptyque, launched in São Paulo in 2000. The team designed the building with “pores” in the concrete from which plants grow, and every aspect of the structure’s functionality—drain pipes, pumps and the water treatment system—are celebrated and left open on the exterior. Earlier this year, the firm participated in “Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Building,” which consisted of artists, architects and designers celebrating the museum’s 50th anniversary by filling its huge rotunda space with various installations.
Located on Harmonia Street on the west side of São Paulo, the Harmonia 57 residential building was designed by Olivier Raffaëlli, Gregory Bousquet, Guillaume Sibaud and Carolina Bueno of the French-Brazilian architectural firm Triptyque, launched in São Paulo in 2000. The team designed the building with “pores” in the concrete from which plants grow, and every aspect of the structure’s functionality—drain pipes, pumps and the water treatment system—are celebrated and left open on the exterior. Earlier this year, the firm participated in “Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Building,” which consisted of artists, architects and designers celebrating the museum’s 50th anniversary by filling its huge rotunda space with various installations.
Club NOX in Recife, where two rivers meet the Atlantic in Brazil. Dominated by planes of changing, pulsating light both outside and in, the club was designed by Juliano Dubeux, João Domingos Azevedo and Lívia da Costa Brandão of Metro Arquitectos and José Rafael Souto Maior de Brito.
Club NOX in Recife, where two rivers meet the Atlantic in Brazil. Dominated by planes of changing, pulsating light both outside and in, the club was designed by Juliano Dubeux, João Domingos Azevedo and Lívia da Costa Brandão of Metro Arquitectos and José Rafael Souto Maior de Brito.
Christopher Proctor Fernando Rihl, of Proctor:Rihl in London, designed Casa Fatia (“Slice House”) in Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, with a window looking straight into the pool, à la the master bedroom of John Lautner’s Sheats-Goldstein house in Los Angeles. Slice House has been published in more than 30 design and architecture magazines.
Christopher Proctor Fernando Rihl, of Proctor:Rihl in London, designed Casa Fatia (“Slice House”) in Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, with a window looking straight into the pool, à la the master bedroom of John Lautner’s Sheats-Goldstein house in Los Angeles. Slice House has been published in more than 30 design and architecture magazines.
The Livraria da Vila bookstore in São Paulo by Isay Weinfield Architects, for which Weinfeld won several architectural awards, is defined by its entrance façade made of revolving bookcases. Weinfeld once remarked, “In addition to being the ugliest, São Paulo takes the cake as the most fun city I know.”
The Livraria da Vila bookstore in São Paulo by Isay Weinfield Architects, for which Weinfeld won several architectural awards, is defined by its entrance façade made of revolving bookcases. Weinfeld once remarked, “In addition to being the ugliest, São Paulo takes the cake as the most fun city I know.”
Situated in the center of two highways imagined by Brazilian architect Lucio Costa, the Cidade de Musica by architect Christian de Portzamparc in Rio de Janeiro will hover some 30 feet above a garden designed by Fernando Chacel and will house the headquarters of the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra, concert and rehearsal rooms, movie theaters, a restaurant, a library and shops.
Situated in the center of two highways imagined by Brazilian architect Lucio Costa, the Cidade de Musica by architect Christian de Portzamparc in Rio de Janeiro will hover some 30 feet above a garden designed by Fernando Chacel and will house the headquarters of the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra, concert and rehearsal rooms, movie theaters, a restaurant, a library and shops.