Pantanal Action presents projects and activities developed in neighborhoods located in the Tietê River basin in the eastern zone of São Paulo (Vila Nova União, Jardim Lapenna, and Jardim Helena), collectively known as the Pantanal, an area subject to periodic flooding and the subject of several public administration projects. It revisits a project initially developed by ZL Vórtice, coordinated by Nelson Brissac, now in partnership with professors from FAU and EE Mackenzie, and coordinated by Afonso Castro.

Morning

▪ Summary of visits to Vila Nova Union, Jardim Lapenna and Jardim Helena – Afonso Castro (FAU Mackenzie), Denis Neves, Mari Anna (ArqCoop+), Nelson Brissac (ZL Vórtice)
▪ Community practices and public policies
Hermes de Souza, Passarinho, Paulo Santiago (NUA), Marcos Almeida, (CDC Jardim Helena),
▪ CPI of the Floods of Jardim Pantanal – Marina Bragante (REDE)
▪ Demonstration – Orterprem / Interlocking concrete blocks and floors
▪ Screening of videos recording visits to the Pantanal, made by the workshop It's from the hood, from the NUA.

Afternoon

Technological proposals – Urbanization, drainage and water management
▪ Permeable pavement without soil infiltration – Afonso Virgillis, Bruno Pecini (EE Mackenzie), Luciano A. da Silva (Univ. São Judas).
▪ Arnaldo de Melo – Sidewalk design with residents.
▪ Monitoring systems – Daniel Gatti (PUC SP)
▪ Proposals for the Pantanal Garden – Riciane Pombo (Guajava – Architecture and Landscape)
▪ Public policies for Jardim Pantanal – Jefferson Tavares (IAU USP)

▪ Launch from the book The water and the floor, by Nelson Brissac

IABsp – Bento Freitas Street, 306

Free

For questions, please contact us by email: acaopantanal@gmail.com

Urgent Panorama! The space as an act of permanence aims to bring to the Biennial a critical urban situation: Jardim Panorama and the Paraisópolis Complex, which are facing imminent redevelopment projects led by the City Hall, within the scope of the Faria Lima Consortium Urban Operation. The proposal is coordinated by Cristina Wehba, IABsp representative at the Faria Lima OUC (University of São Paulo), André Dal`Bó, professor representing FAUUSP, and Nelson Brissac (PUC-SP).

Jardim Panorama, a community historically threatened with eviction, is located next to large real estate developments on the banks of the Pinheiros Canal. It is a strategic area in the metropolitan restructuring, driven by the Novo Rio Pinheiros project and the implementation of Bruno Covas Park. This process could exacerbate social inequality and the exclusion of community residents from social housing and planned public spaces.

Within the same perimeter, the communities of Paraisópolis, Jardim Colombo, and Porto Seguro form one of the city's largest favelas, a territory of enormous social, urban, and environmental complexity, the target of numerous research projects and government-sponsored interventions. Like Jardim Panorama, the favela is located on steep slopes and is home to numerous streams, posing significant challenges for drainage and urban development solutions.

By bringing together research, art, and community action, the proposal affirms space as an act of permanence and demands that redevelopment ensure inclusion, decent housing, and qualified access to public spaces for those who build the city every day—with the exchange of experiences between territories as a basis for political coalition, effective participation, and influence in decision-making.

Team:
Cristina Wehba — urban architect, PhD (FAU USP), IABsp representative at OUCFL.
André Dal'Bó — urban architect, professor at FAU/Design-USP, researcher associated with the Université Paris Nanterre.
Nelson Brissac — philosopher, PhD (Sorbonne), organizer of Arte/Cidade. Samira Rodrigues — urban architect, master's degree (FAU USP), IABsp representative on the CMH and the ZEIS Council; advisor to CAU/SP (ATHIS).
Cristiane Farah Kairalla — educator, specialist in education, art and popular culture, and environmental education.
Residents and leaders of Jardim Panorama

Agenda (events open to the public)

OCTOBER 16, 2025 – VISIT TO THE PARAISÓPOLIS COMPLEX

Meeting with communities at Legado Paraisópolis, Melchior Giola Street.

Registration:

Registration for the activities on the 16th and 18th can be done by email at panoramaurgente@gmail.com, providing your full name, profession, and a brief explanation of your interest. Your WhatsApp number may be optionally included.

Participation is open to all, free of charge, and there is no limit to the number of participants. All activities are open and free, aiming to strengthen connections between the public and the community.

By registering and participating, people automatically authorize the use of their image in photographic and audiovisual recordings of the project.

The program also includes:

OCTOBER 14, 2025 – OCA AUDITORIUM (IBIRAPUERA PARK)

A day of debates and presentations that seek to situate the territories within the context of the redesign of the metropolis, discussing government management projects and the importance of social participation in defining public policies.

OCTOBER 15, 2025 – IABSP (BENTO FREITAS STREET, 306 – REPUBLIC)

Discussions will continue, focusing on institutional relationships and project developments, reinforcing the exchange of experiences and collective construction among different actors and territories. There will also be presentations of artistic projects, paving the way for interventions in Jardim Panorama.

OCTOBER 19, 2025 – VISIT TO THE PANORAMA LAB PROJECT IN THE PANORAMA GARDEN

Closing event in the territory, with video mapping, participatory dynamics and a major event by the Panorama LAB collective.

The activity is part of the program Childhoods and Climate in the City

Initiative: Brazilian Network for Collaborative Urbanism

Organizations: Ateliê Navio, Coletivo Flutua, Paisagem Design Regenerativo, Flora, Discovering Playing, Ecoactive House

Support: Urban95, Early Childhood Parliamentary Front (FPPI)

The Brazilian Collaborative Urbanism Network brings together more than 20 organizations from all regions of the country, united by a common goal: to promote more inclusive, democratic, and just cities through collaboration. 

For the Architecture Biennial, the Network proposes a special program on the morning of Children's Day dedicated to the theme of childhood and climate in the city, inviting the public to reflect and act on the urban and environmental challenges affecting new generations. The activity seeks to broaden the debate on the inclusion of children in urban planning and the active participation of children in building more just and caring cities.

Topics on the agenda include climate issues and their impacts on children's lives, the urgency of climate justice in vulnerable territories, and collective strategies for addressing these issues. Also discussed will be ways to integrate and value the experiences of Black, Indigenous, riverside, and quilombola children, promoting an anti-racist urbanism that recognizes Brazil's multiple childhoods.

The program includes the following activities and activations:

Experience: Climate Refuges and Naturalized Public Spaces, with Eco-Neighborhood

Time: 10 am
Duration: 2 hours
Age Range: From 6 years old (accompanied by guardians)
Location: Pablo Garcia Cantero Square, next to the Brazilian Cinematheque

This experience invites children from communities near Ibirapuera Park to explore the climate refuge at Pablo Garcia Cantero Square, which is part of the Ibirapuera Park–Aclimação Park Green Corridor and hosts the Vila Mariana Community Composting project. Children will experience free play in the naturalized micro-park and learn about the natural composting process. From the square, we'll take a short, recreational walk, passing through the Mini Urban Forest and the "Park of Dark Colors" in Soichiro Honda Square, until arriving at Oca in Ibirapuera Park.

Activations: 

Opening hours: 10am to 8pm

Flora: childhood in motion: Pop-up nature park for young children and babies, with activities and games using natural materials.

Eco-neighborhood and Regenerative Landscape Design: Interactive model for co-creation of naturalized and biophilic play spaces.

Discover by Playing: Living and Reading Space for families of 0-3 years old. The Bebeteca is a safe and intentionally designed space for young children accompanied by their caregivers to enjoy, where the baby will find motor challenges, books and objects to explore.

Free

Discussion Table – 10:30 am to 12 pm

Childhoods and Climate: Climate Justice in Vulnerable Territories 

The table will be integrated by: 

Gisele Moura, a scientist and environmental technician with 15 years of experience, who works in a transdisciplinary way combining science, ancestry and anti-colonial solutions to develop social technologies aimed at sustainability and socio-environmental resilience in favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

Marina Bragante, a councilor in São Paulo for the Sustainability Network, a psychologist and master in Public Administration from Harvard, dedicated to policies for early childhood and urban sustainability, with a focus on climate adaptation and strengthening the care network for children and families.

Ursula Troncoso, architect and urban planner, founder of Ateliê Navio, with over 10 years of experience in participatory planning of public spaces, housing and child-friendly cities, in partnership with programs such as Urban95 Brasil and World Bank initiatives.

Karoline Freire Dias, a resident of Bororé Island. Trained as a cultural agent by Percurso Cultural, she currently works at Casa Ecoativa and is a co-founder of the collective Na Ilha Agência. She has participated in several training courses and workshops, such as the NAEA (Art and Environmental Education Center) with FAU-USP, and an environmental education course with Humanaterra. 

Mediation: Jaison Pongiluppi Lara, manager and coordinator of projects that integrate culture, education, and the environment. Member of Casa Ecoativa and manager of CCA – Center for Children and Adolescents. He coordinates the Adrião Escola Aberta project and the Bororé Island Memorial, with his activism trajectory documented in documentaries. How Big the Planet Is (Alana Institute) and Resistance Itineraries (SESC SP).

Free

Registrations must be made here.

Registration will be open until the start of the activity, on site, as long as there are spaces available.

Windsock Workshop with the Floating Collective 

Time: 10:30 am
Duration: 2 hours
Age Range: From 6 years old (accompanied by guardians)
Location: Oca Pavilion | Emergency Feeder | Basement

In this workshop, we'll create windsocks—objects made from plastic bags and wire that come to life in the wind. The activity proposes a meeting of reused materials, the body, the wind, and creation. 

Come let yourself go, play and create new directions with us!

Free

Registrations must be made here.

The Timber Structure Design Workshop for Architects aims to introduce architecture professionals and students to the principles that guide the use of timber as a contemporary structural system. Led by Marcelo Maia Rosa of Andrade Morettin Arquitetos and João Pini of Ita Engenharia em Madeira, the activity seeks to combine theoretical foundations, design practice, and case study analysis, establishing a dialogue between architectural logic and engineering rationality. The workshop is structured in two complementary stages. The first part will feature a theoretical presentation organized around the fundamentals of timber structure design, with an emphasis on the material's characteristics. The FIBRA application, a pre-dimensioning tool that will allow participants to practice analyzing structural modulations, will also be introduced. The second part will analyze projects developed by Andrade Morettin, originally designed in timber or steel and concrete, and will include a speculative exercise in transposing them to timber construction systems. This comparative process will provide support for critical reflection on the material's potential and limitations, highlighting its applicability, as well as its formal and constructive implications. The workshop thus serves as a research and training space, aimed at assisting in the design process of timber structures, both technically and design-wise.

Free

Vacancies: 60

IABsp – Bento Freitas Street, 306 – Vila Buarque – São Paulo – SP

Registration:

Registrations must be made here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Registration will be open until October 1st, as long as there are spaces available.

Indigenous communities present their ancestral territories in the first person. They narrate situations in which the LAND is intentionally placed in a WEFT. Clay interspersed with bamboo builds walls and defines spaces; geography in the warp of cartographies forms arguments and delineates boundaries; the word in the fabric of narratives engenders strategies and charts directions. The set of maps produced critically, collectively, and collaboratively brings together stories from Indigenous Territories and touches on different ethnicities, perspectives, biomes, and forms of agency experienced in the State of Paraná and its surrounding areas.

Seeking an alternative to colonial documentation experiences, which over the centuries have forged—and continue to forge—an exoticized and anachronistic original universe, TERRA EM TRAMA attempts specific self-representation in addressing one of the crucial themes of the Indigenous struggle: disputed territories. They are described with academic precision and annotated with ancestral precision, constituting cartographic self-portraits. The maps discuss the presence and relationships between Communities and their Territories, implementing procedures from Indigenous oral and material traditions of layering, inventive exploitation, and diversity of expressions.
The annotated panels are supported by an exhibition structure that, similarly, takes shape from interaction with the traditional knowledge of indigenous builders, supporting the transmission of diverse knowledge through construction practice. It conveys the argument that exhibition structures, open spaces, buildings, cities, and forests are fundamentally political and crucial tools for postponing the ends of so many worlds.

Estúdio Fronteira (Frontier Studio) – a university outreach project coordinated by architect and professor Marina Oba within the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at UFPR. Its objective is to develop records and guidelines that engage with non-hegemonic modes of spatial production. It encompasses the development of technical surveys and diagnoses of architectural complexes and urban and rural landscapes, with an emphasis on human appropriations and manifestations, as well as the development of guidelines for management and territorial structuring.

+Resumption of Kaingang de Kógunh Jãmã, Parque do Mate (Campo Largo), Resumption of Kaingang de Rán Krī Tupē Jamã, Christ of Purunã (São Luís do Purunã), Urban Village of Kakané Porã (Curitiba), Multiethnic Resumption of Tekoa Ywy Dju, Sacred Territory (Piraquara), Tekoa Kuaray Haxá (Antonina), Tekoa Tupã Nhe'e Kretã (Morretes), Tekoa Kuaray Guatá Porã, Cerco Grande Indigenous Land (Guaraqueçaba), Tekoa Pindoty and Tekoa Takuaty, Ilha da Cotinga Indigenous Land (Paranaguá), Rio d'Areia Indigenous Land (Inácio Martins), + independent collaborations.

This project is sponsored by Copel, through the State Program for the Promotion and Incentive of Culture | PROFICE of the State Secretariat for Culture | Government of the State of Paraná.

The building can be visited until October 19th at the Museum of Indigenous Cultures, Rua Dona Germaine Burchard, 451 – Água Branca, São Paulo

Information on visiting hours in museudasculturasindigenas.org.br

Pantanal Action presents projects and activities developed in neighborhoods located in the Tietê River basin in the eastern zone of São Paulo (Vila Nova União, Jardim Lapenna, and Jardim Helena), collectively known as the Pantanal, an area subject to periodic flooding and the subject of several public administration projects. It revisits a project initially developed by ZL Vórtice, coordinated by Nelson Brissac, now in partnership with professors from FAU and EE Mackenzie, and coordinated by Afonso Castro.

Guided tours of the three neighborhoods that make up the Pantanal area.
26/09 – New Union Village
September 30th – Helena Garden
07/10 – Lapenna Garden

During the visits, on-site exhibitions of urbanization projects developed or proposed by public administration and university researchers will be held, with the participation of architects and engineers from CDHU, Mackenzie and ArqCoop+.

The visits will be accompanied by meetings with the communities, hosted by residents' associations such as Nova União das Artes (NUA) and CDC Jardim Helena. The discussion groups will promote an exchange of experiences and integration between the Pantanal communities and the downtown occupations—Ocupação 9 Julho, with representatives from the MSTC and MMLJ—aiming to encourage inclusive decision-making processes.

Free

Registration – guided tours

To participate in the visits, send an email to: acaopantanal@gmail.com
Include in the email: Name, profession, and any institution you belong to. Also, which visit you're interested in.

Registrations can be made up to 1 day before the visits.

There is no limit to the number of places available for guided tours.

Detailed information about the meeting point, time, itinerary and necessary information will be provided by email.

Access will be the responsibility of each interested party, but a guide will be provided with all the necessary information (public transportation lines, addresses and references) for the meeting with community leaders, members of public management and technicians who will conduct the visits.

In addition to guided tours, Ação Pantanal offers two other activities:

23/09 – Debate Forum – Oca Auditorium

10/10 – USP’s MariAntônia Center and Mackenzie’s Experimental Site

A link with more information will be available soon.

For questions, please contact us by email: acaopantanal@gmail.com

Pantanal Action presents projects and activities developed in neighborhoods located in the Tietê River basin in the eastern zone of São Paulo (Vila Nova União, Jardim Lapenna, and Jardim Helena), collectively known as the Pantanal, an area subject to periodic flooding and the subject of several public administration projects. It revisits a project initially developed by ZL Vórtice, coordinated by Nelson Brissac, now in partnership with professors from FAU and EE Mackenzie, and coordinated by Afonso Castro.

Guided tours of the three neighborhoods that make up the Pantanal area.
26/09 – Vila Nova União
30/09 – Helena Garden
07/10 – Lapenna Garden

During the visits, on-site exhibitions of urbanization projects developed or proposed by public administration and university researchers will be held, with the participation of architects and engineers from CDHU, Mackenzie and ArqCoop+.

The visits will be accompanied by meetings with the communities, hosted by residents' associations such as Nova União das Artes (NUA) and CDC Jardim Helena. The discussion groups will promote an exchange of experiences and integration between the Pantanal communities and the downtown occupations—Ocupação 9 Julho, with representatives from the MSTC and MMLJ—aiming to encourage inclusive decision-making processes.

Free

Registration – guided tours

To participate in the visits, send an email to: acaopantanal@gmail.com
Include in the email: Name, profession, and any institution you belong to. Also, which visit you're interested in.

Registrations can be made up to 1 day before the visits.

There is no limit to the number of places available for guided tours.

Detailed information about the meeting point, time, itinerary and necessary information will be provided by email.

Access will be the responsibility of each interested party, but a guide will be provided with all the necessary information (public transportation lines, addresses and references) for the meeting with community leaders, members of public management and technicians who will conduct the visits.

In addition to guided tours, Ação Pantanal offers two other activities:

23/09 – Debate Forum – Oca Auditorium

10/10 – USP’s MariAntônia Center and Mackenzie’s Experimental Site

A link with more information will be available soon.

For questions, please contact us by email: acaopantanal@gmail.com

The activity consists of a walk through the area where the Morro Grande Municipal Park is currently under construction, located between the districts of Brasilândia, Freguesia do Ó, and Pirituba, in the North Zone of São Paulo. The visit aims to bring participants closer to the local history and community mobilizations that have shaped the struggle for the establishment of this public space, a significant environmental, historical, and cultural heritage site for the region.

Located in a remnant of Atlantic Forest, the over 600,000 m² site boasts springs and rugged topography, affording views of the entire surrounding area. The large central void, a result of mineral exploration at the now-defunct Morro Grande Quarry, was transformed into a lake and, more recently, into a subway maneuvering yard. Old buildings still stand on the site, legacy of the quarry's operational period, such as the Santa Clara de Assis Chapel, the Weaving Mill, the movie theater, and the workers' housing. Congo Road—currently Elisio Teixeira Leite Avenue—adjacent to the park, also carries a memory of enslaved people who came to the region. This architectural, landscape, and intangible complex is present in the collective memory of the territory.

Morro Grande Park is listed as an urban park under planning in the Strategic Master Plan of the City of São Paulo (Law 16.050/2014), and in June 2023, the Public Utility Decree was signed, providing for the expropriation of the land for acquisition by the municipality. This milestone reinforces the importance of local mobilizations that, over the years, have pressured the government to implement the project and protect it from invasions and environmental crimes, to which the area is subject. The park project is under development and plans a final participatory workshop later this year.

The Instituto A Cidade Precisa de Você invites you, with the support of the Movement in Defense of Morro Grande Park and Memories of Morro Grande, to get to know the place in its environmental, social and cultural dimensions, highlighting the power of co-creation and citizen mobilization in the construction of free and collective spaces in the city.

Free

Vacancies: 15

Meeting point for the start of the walk: R. Valêncio Augusto de Barros Filho, 829 – Sítio Morro Grande, São Paulo (Headquarters of the Movement in Defense of Morro Grande Park).

Registration:

ATTENTION: This activity is for adults over 18 years of age only. You will be required to sign a liability waiver, as you may be accessing trails, ruins, and paths with restricted accessibility.

We recommend wearing appropriate clothing and footwear for walking, sun protection, a raincoat (if bad weather is expected) and water.

Registrations must be made by email: projetos@acidadeprecisa.org

Send: name, age, telephone number and inform if you have any specific accessibility needs.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Registration will be open until October 1st, as long as there are spaces available.

One early morning in 2020, looking at a 1930 map of Vila Mariana, I made a huge discovery: a stream runs next to my house. The flow of this discovery culminated in the development of the urban design project: "The Sapateiro Stream Runs Through Here." Given the contradictions of today's city, which prevents us from breaking through the asphalt to bring hidden streams into the open, I sought a way to make this discovery public, representing the stream's path visibly along its path through the neighborhood.

During an afternoon of urban wandering, two stencils marked points along the route "This is where the Sapateiro Stream runs": an orange one, delimiting the urban area and the park, and a blue one, outlining the stream. Over time, the signs became known and preserved by the neighborhood's residents.

As a continuation of the project, commissioned by the Vila Mariana Residents' Association, a large mural (3.0 x 2.4 m) was commissioned to mark the course of the Sapateiro, Guaríba, and Boa Vista streams, which feed the Ibirapuera Lakes and flow into the Pinheiros River. The project included the conception and design of the map, laser cutting of the stencil masks, and execution of the mural, which was inaugurated alongside the revitalization of the Sapateiro Stream source on September 3, 2021, in a festive atmosphere.

As part of the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial — Extremes: Architectures for a Warm World—in line with the theme "Living with Water"—the project resurfaces through a route that stretches from the top of the breakwater to the Oca (House of Water). The proposal seeks to reveal traces of water in the area surrounding the biennial, fostering cartographic contact with the outcrops of water that feed the park's lakes and reactivating the stencils that gave rise to the project five years ago.

Gabriel Neistein is an urban architect with a degree from FAU USP and an office in Bom Retiro. He develops architectural projects at various scales, seeking a dialogue between architectural design and artistic practices linked to the territory.

Meeting point: Rua Rino Pieralini, 81 – 350m from Vila Mariana Metro Station | 2:30 p.m.
Arrival: Architecture Biennial – Oca, Ibirapuera Park

Free

Vacancies: 40

Registration:
Registrations must be made by form available here.
Selection will be made in order of registration.
Registration will be open until October 4th.

TERRITORY OF THE BIXIGA RIVER: CANUDOS REFORESTATION

Continuing the cultivation of the Denuzia vegetable garden, located within the Território (Parque) of the Bixiga River — carried out in a community and voluntary manner every Sunday, for three years — we propose, during the 14th Architecture Biennial, to share this experience with a program of sympoetic activities.

Description of laboratory activities:

Poetic Macumba Massacre Canudos Rio Bixiga

Construction of small wattle and daub houses (bioconstruction) scattered throughout the Denuzia garden, creating a vast voodoo map that fuses the images and stories of what was once Canudos and what is now the Bixiga River territory, proposing a mutual decimation of these ecosystems, united in the same struggle for land and collective modes of existence. This provokes reflection among participants on an architecture that merges with nature, the autonomy of quilombo, indigenous, and marginalized communities in the construction of their homes, and the relationship between construction and ritual. We propose this "voodoo acupuncture" in the territory, as a practice of calling upon the forest and the Bixiga River.

Dates 09/21 – 09/28 from 10am to 2pm with a picnic and chat to share experiences at the end.
Local Horta Denuzia located in the Territory of Rio Bixiga. Jaceguai Street, 548 – Bixiga

Jungle of Cities, forest workshop and post concrete

A group reading of Bertolt Brecht's play "Selva das Cidades" (Jungle of Cities). A discussion circle on the workshop theater experience of this production and the fight for the Bixiga River Park.

Teatro Oficina's production, directed by José Celso Martinez Corrêa and with set design by Lina Bo Bardi, is an important reference in the history of Brazilian theater, a reaction to urban transformations and a period of military dictatorship. Today, we want to connect with this history of (re)existence to foster our questions about the needs and possibilities of reforesting cities and experiencing a "post-concrete" society. We reflect on what direct and planned actions we need to implement to dismantle the reinforced concrete reality imposed on concrete cities. What will cities be like without all this concrete? Where will it go, and what can we do with all this concrete? How can we help the earth free itself from the hostage situation of reinforced concrete waterproofing in cities?

Date: 05/10 10am to 2pm with picnic at the end.
Local Horta Denuzia located in the Territory of Rio Bixiga. Jaceguai Street, 548 – Bixiga

Free

No registration required.

The short film "The Force of Form" presents the research, design, and execution of a unique structural solution: a bent lenticular beam made of wood, developed for lightweight industrial warehouses. The film documents the design and execution process in detail, as well as featuring testimonials from international experts in the field of timber structural engineering:

Eric Karsh — Canadian structural engineer, founder of Equilibrium Consulting and an international leader in tall timber buildings.

Evy Slabbinck — Belgian-Swiss architect-engineer, director of Design-to-Production and a leader in parametric design and bending-active structures.

Stefan Rick — Swiss engineer at SJB Kempter Fitze, a leader in large-span timber structures with complex geometric shapes.

The development of this solution, which reduces raw material consumption by approximately 50% compared to traditional systems, requires a new structural design methodology, in which the manipulation of form and rigidity becomes the primary design tool. In contrast to the conventional paradigm, in which strength is achieved by adding material, here strength derives from geometry, conceived from a parametric approach that integrates structural calculation, construction context, and architecture.

The work was presented at scientific forums of international relevance, including the World Conference on Timber Engineering, Oslo, 2023; and the International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures – IASS, ETH Zurich, 2024. (https://app.iass2024.org/files/IASS_2024_Paper_589.pdf)

The exhibition will be accompanied by a panel discussion dedicated to discussing the prospects for low-impact, large-scale structural solutions in the Latin American context, with the aim of fostering academic and professional reflection on design methodologies capable of articulating economic viability, construction efficiency, and environmental responsibility.

Architecture: aflalo/gasperini architects
Engineering: ITA Wood Engineering

Free

IABsp – Bento Freitas Street, 306 – Vila Buarque – São Paulo – SP

Registration is not required. Event subject to availability.

This work was also selected for the Biennial, being presented at the Oca with a physical model, screening of the short film and panels documenting the construction process.

On Sunday, September 28, 2025, Parque da Jóia, located in the Butantã neighborhood of São Paulo, will host the 4th Festival da Jóia, an event celebrating socio-environmental regeneration, community culture, and environmental education. This year, the festival officially integrates the program of the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial, directly engaging with its central themes: preserving forests and reforesting cities, and coexisting with water.

Organized by the Gente Jóia collective, made up of local residents and collaborators, the event reaffirms the community's leading role in the transformation of Parque da Jóia — a 13,000 m² space that, in the past, housed the former Jóia Favela and which, today, is a reference in urban reforestation, sustainable water management and permaculture practices.

The program includes two openings: the first is the Biomimetic Design Exhibition, which will present to the public prototypes developed by FAU-USP students based on solutions inspired by nature. 

The second debut is the "Jewel of the Park" Route Game. Aimed at both regular visitors and school groups, it offers the public a playful and educational journey to learn about the history, regenerative initiatives, and biodiversity of the Jewel Park. This interactive experience invites the public to take on the role of regeneration detectives to unravel an ecological mystery. The goal of the route game is to raise environmental awareness by exploring the journey from destruction to restoration, demonstrating how community unity can transform degraded areas into beautiful, biodiverse places.

The festival will also feature three musical acts featuring community artists, a capoeira circle, and hands-on urban permaculture workshops, where the public will have the opportunity to see up close and understand how rain gardens work and compost the waste produced throughout the festival day. All activities are open to the public and free of charge. 

Throughout the day, the Jóia Agroecological Fair will take place, featuring healthy food, handicrafts from local producers, and careful solid waste management, all geared toward a zero-waste festival. There will also be graffiti work in the park, with the Butantãnicas collective, made up of visual artists from Butantã who participate in graffiti campaigns throughout the neighborhood, coloring the walls and highlighting the work produced by women.

"The Jewelry Festival is more than an event; it's a celebration of a living, collectively constructed territory. By integrating it with the Biennial, we reinforce that Jewelry Park is also a space for reflection on the future of cities and inspiration for regenerative practices, contributing not only to the environment but also to the physical and mental health of the population," emphasizes the Gente Jóia collective.

The 4th Jewelry Festival is supported by the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism and the Department of Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, the International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo and also with the support of the Urban Permaculturists network.

Free entry

More information: iInstagram.com/parquedajoia

The 4th Jewel Festival reaffirms Jewel Park as a living laboratory of sustainable practices and community strengthening, aligning art, design, permaculture and environmental education in a space that strives for recognition as a municipal urban park.

The festival was sponsored by the Pro-Rectorate of Culture and University Extension (PRCEU) of USP

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

The Guarani Mbyá community preserves its spirituality and language on Brazil's smallest indigenous land, surrounded by the megalopolis of São Paulo. In 1500, during the Portuguese invasion, the Guarani inhabited vast territories from the Brazilian coast to Paraguay. Their prosperous villages thrived on agriculture and livestock. Over the centuries, they were displaced, enslaved, and catechized, contributing to São Paulo's rise as a commercial center. Today, this community represents a microcosm of the global climate crisis. Amid 22 million people, they protect one of the last remaining tropical forests in the region, including the 400-hectare Jaraguá Peak. Despite being restricted to just 1.8 hectares of recognized territory, they maintain ancestral agricultural practices and protect biodiversity, resisting environmental degradation. By comparison, indigenous lands in Brazil lost only 1% of native vegetation in 30 years, compared to 20.6% on private lands. 

At the heart of their spiritual practice is the Petynguá pipe, made from the endangered araucaria tree, connecting past, present, and future. This sacred smoke, rising from the intersection of forest and urban sprawl, symbolizes their unbroken ancestry and a call to rethink the environmental impact of urban life. 

Nhemboaty is the result of five years of meetings between photographer Rafael Vilela and the residents of the Jaraguá Indigenous Territory. The exhibition takes place within the Pindomirim Village, an immersive experience in Nhanderekó, the Guarani way of life. For an afternoon, visitors will be able to sample the traditional food of this people, walk through the territory, listen to their words and songs, and visit sacred and exhibition spaces. The event, held in partnership with the São Paulo Architecture Biennial and the Autonomous Agency, will also feature a short film screening from the Imagining the Forest project, with films by Nadeem Alkarimi, Qadir Jhatial, and Sadqain Riaz (Karachi Biennial, Pakistan), and Eelyn Lee (Richmond Arts & Ideas Festival, UK). 

This research received significant support and funding from Catchlight, the National Geographic Society, and the British Council.

As it is sacred territory, entry to the village experience will be limited to 40 people. 
This activity is closed to invited participants.

The first re:arc institute symposium in São Paulo proposes an investigative experience on values, practices and ways of thinking that express and care for the interconnections of all life, based on the concept of architectures of planetary well-being.

Over two days, in three sessions, the event will bring together artists, researchers, and cultural agents to share knowledge through lectures, presentations, performances, and discussion groups. The invited participants will bring experiences related to collectivity, ecology, territory, design, and architecture, offering perspectives that engage with the history of the space and its intersections between performance and revolutionary imagination.

The program will explore spatial practices through the lens of reparation and engagement, and propose a reorientation of the temporality with which we perceive and create the built environment. Participants' presences and perspectives engage in a profound dialogue with the space, enhancing its intersections between performance and revolutionary imagination.

September 19
17:00-23:00

ACT I: Reparation

In Dialogue with the Earth

Ailton Krenak & Paulo Tavares

Mutirão Theater: Choral Action: Rites of Possession and Transformation

Teat(r)o Oficina Uzyna Uzona Association

Reflections on the Architecture of Reparation

Ana Flavia Magalhães Pinto & Paulo Tavares

September 20
10:00-14:00
ACT II: Rooting

Spatiality and Spiral Time: Opening Remarks

Leda Maria Martins

Temporalities and Spatial Practices: Round Table

Leda Maria Martins, Mother Celina of Xangô, Rose Afefé and Maya Quilolo

Moderated by Gabriela de Matos and Audrey Carolini, from the Cambará Institute

September 20
16:00-20:00
ACT III: Involvement

Amaro Freitas Y'Y

Involvements: Round Table

Taina de Paula, Jerá Guarani and Maria Alice Pereira da Silva

Moderated by Marcella Arruda

Perspectives on Practice

Without Walls, Palmares Laboratory-Action, RUÍNA Architecture and Group ][ Fresta

Empowerment: Closing Remarks

Joice Berth

More information and registration on the website www.arquiteturasdobemestarplanetario.com

Project implementation: Brazil
Project development: Brazil

Cine Fluxo is an independent film collective that works with harm reduction through screenings of audiovisual works in the Cracolândia flow, located in the Luz neighborhood.

We believe that audiovisual media promotes access to art and social dialogue and offers moments of leisure and support for the population that is socially unprotected by the State.

The goal is to encourage audiovisual training and production, along with creative expression, autonomy, and the production of individual narratives by participants. Audiovisual language is a powerful tool for reintegration, affection, and resistance.

Cine Fluxo carries out its activities using a cart, designed and built by a group of students from Escola da Cidade, which essentially carries a projector, speaker, car battery, inverter, projection screen, tripod, folding benches and intimate protection and personal hygiene kits.

The cart was made with a metal base salvaged from a junkyard and plywood used for concrete forms. The wooden plates were drilled with 2.2-centimeter circles spaced every 6 centimeters, allowing for hooks made from broom handles and improving battery ventilation and sound output.

The wood joints were made with angle irons to facilitate assembly and disassembly. To facilitate organization within the cart, niches, shelves, and openings were created. The wheels are pneumatic to withstand the harsh conditions of the street. Furthermore, the metal base itself has a support that allows for the placement of a flagpole for the Cine Fluxo flag.

Even more beautiful is that this cart isn't empty: along with it goes our film, made by many hands and eyes, with the active participation of those who live in the territory and build Cine Fluxo on a daily basis, which will also be shown at the Biennale, reaffirming that street cinema, made with affection and listening, is a way of occupying the city, it is architecture.

Free

Vacancies: 30

Mauá Occupation – Rua Mauá 340 (next to Luz station)

Registration

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Registration will be open up to 1 hour before the start of the activity, as long as there are spaces available.

Indigenous communities present their ancestral territories in the first person. They narrate situations in which the LAND is intentionally placed in a WEFT. Clay interspersed with bamboo builds walls and defines spaces; geography in the warp of cartographies forms arguments and delineates boundaries; the word in the fabric of narratives engenders strategies and charts directions. The set of maps produced critically, collectively, and collaboratively brings together stories from Indigenous Territories and touches on different ethnicities, perspectives, biomes, and forms of agency experienced in the State of Paraná and its surrounding areas.

Seeking an alternative to colonial documentation experiences, which over the centuries have forged—and continue to forge—an exoticized and anachronistic original universe, TERRA EM TRAMA attempts specific self-representation in addressing one of the crucial themes of the Indigenous struggle: disputed territories. They are described with academic precision and annotated with ancestral precision, constituting cartographic self-portraits. The maps discuss the presence and relationships between Communities and their Territories, implementing procedures from Indigenous oral and material traditions of layering, inventive exploitation, and diversity of expressions.
The annotated panels are supported by an exhibition structure that, similarly, takes shape from interaction with the traditional knowledge of indigenous builders, supporting the transmission of diverse knowledge through construction practice. It conveys the argument that exhibition structures, open spaces, buildings, cities, and forests are fundamentally political and crucial tools for postponing the ends of so many worlds.

Estúdio Fronteira (Frontier Studio) – a university outreach project coordinated by architect and professor Marina Oba within the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at UFPR. Its objective is to develop records and guidelines that engage with non-hegemonic modes of spatial production. It encompasses the development of technical surveys and diagnoses of architectural complexes and urban and rural landscapes, with an emphasis on human appropriations and manifestations, as well as the development of guidelines for management and territorial structuring.

+Resumption of Kaingang de Kógunh Jãmã, Parque do Mate (Campo Largo), Resumption of Kaingang de Rán Krī Tupē Jamã, Christ of Purunã (São Luís do Purunã), Urban Village of Kakané Porã (Curitiba), Multiethnic Resumption of Tekoa Ywy Dju, Sacred Territory (Piraquara), Tekoa Kuaray Haxá (Antonina), Tekoa Tupã Nhe'e Kretã (Morretes), Tekoa Kuaray Guatá Porã, Cerco Grande Indigenous Land (Guaraqueçaba), Tekoa Pindoty and Tekoa Takuaty, Ilha da Cotinga Indigenous Land (Paranaguá), Rio d'Areia Indigenous Land (Inácio Martins), + independent collaborations.

This project is sponsored by Copel, through the State Program for the Promotion and Incentive of Culture | PROFICE of the State Secretariat for Culture | Government of the State of Paraná.

The activity will begin at 8 am and will end after the structure closes, scheduled for 4 pm.
It is possible to participate in the activity at any time during its development.

Location of activity

Museum of Indigenous Cultures, Rua Dona Germaine Burchard, 451 – Água Branca, São Paulo

Registration

It is not necessary to register to participate in the activity.

To receive a certificate of participation it is necessary fill out the form until September 12th (8 hours of training activities, by UFPR).