brazil:

I'm in what has come to be known as the Brazil studio at Pratt this semester. Basically this is because our site is located in Sao Paulo Brazil and we made a trip there as a class to do some research.

It was an amazing trip and a great opportunity to make my first journey to South America. We spent 4 days in Sao Paulo visiting the site and other parts of the city, and receiving lectures about the environment, history and architecture of Brazil from members of the local university.

We stayed at a cute inn near the central district


visited an example of artist housing


visited a community center with an amazingly large gym


ate yummy fried pastels with cheese and hearts of palm


documented our site (future modern art museum in background)


visited another community center with an amazing mix of programs (gallery, library, music performance, roof deck, sunken pit with rain rain forest plants growing out, all with these great ramps going between)


and on our last day in Sao Paulo we visited (viewed from the outside) one of the favelas, or slums.


Later that day we flew to Rio De Janeiro about an hour's flight away. There we saw more interesting architecture and Brazilian culture. Rio is Brazil's most beautiful city, and even though the weather was hazy for most of the time we were there it was still an wonderful experience.

We visited the famous Niteroi museum by Oscar Niemeyer who turns 100 this year and is still working. He is the Brazilian equivalent of Le Corbusie in many ways.


and his house


and a cathedral also designed by him that has an intelligent component based system that is open to the outside but blocks direct sunlight.






And of course a trip to rio wouldn't be complete without visiting the famous crist statue and seeing the view of the city from its impressive bluffs




and even saw a family of monkeys along the way :)