Ateliescola Acaia is a socio-educational project in Vila Leopoldina that offers 250 children and young people, primarily from low-income communities surrounding CEAGESP, free full-time education, healthcare, and citizenship training. Students can attend from preschool to pre-technical level, benefiting from an environment that combines theory and practice and values creativity and autonomy.
Every day, around 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., families briefly converge at the gate of Ateliescola Acaia—a place marked by joy and care, but also by asphalt, parked cars, and heat. In recent years, São Paulo has faced intense heat waves, disproportionately impacting low-income communities with limited access to adaptive infrastructure. The children at Acaia live and navigate these "extremes" daily.
Responding to the pressing issue of extreme heat in urban São Paulo, the project brings together students, parents, and educators to design and build a temporary prototype structure on the threshold of the Ateliescola Acaia. It directly engages the lived experience of those most affected—children and caregivers—to redefine and transform the school's entrance area into a shared, shaded, and welcoming gathering space.
This collaborative intervention draws on vernacular knowledge and tactical urbanism, exploring the connections between climate justice, urban transformation, and intergenerational learning. The resulting framework will test site-specific solutions through low-tech strategies, but will also serve as a platform for community storytelling.
It's there on Acaia Street is a project started by carpenter Alice Barkhausen (DE), designer and cultural producer Sofia Costa Pinto (BR), architect and builder Maddalena Pornaro (IT) and urban researcher and educator Licia Soldavini
Schedule
From September 8th to 18th, from 9am to 4pm – Drawing and construction workshop (only for Ateliescola Acaia students)
September 19, 4pm to 7pm – Opening at the Acaia Institute with music, conversation and food (open to all)
4pm – Music with Culture on the Sidewalk by: Hilton Hits
5:00 PM – Presentation of results and group conversation with Zoy Anastassakis (ESDI/UERJ)
6pm – Food and drinks
Acaia Institute, Dr. Avelino Chaves St., 159 – Vila Leopoldina, São Paulo – SP, 05318-040