Vínculos: entre margens, ciclos e pertencimento - 14ᵃ Bienal Internacional de Arquitetura de São Paulo

Project implementation: Brazil
Project development: Brazil

Students: Aline Saemi Nakamura, Camila Miwa, Livia Naomi Nishijima Yohei, Luisa Caminha de Figueiredo

Developed by four architecture students from different Brazilian states, the project investigates the role of architecture in territories that have faced the most extreme effects of inequality and environmental crisis for decades. These are communities that are invisible, racialized, and pushed to the edges of cities and public policies. Places where the soil gives way and floods, and where water is not a cycle, but a constant threat.

In the East Zone of São Paulo, in the Jardim Lapena neighborhood of the São Miguel Paulista district, this reality materializes. The occupation began in the 1950s and today is home to approximately 12,000 residents. It is within this context that the project "Links: Between Margins, Cycles, and Belonging" fits in, a proposal that seeks to reestablish essential relationships between territory, nature, and community. The project recognizes people and nature, values the processes that keep life moving, and reinforces the sense of belonging of those who already live there.

The proposal is based on a versatile and replicable structure, tailored to local needs. It offers essential infrastructure to address flooding, lack of drainage, and lack of safe spaces, and creates support for community and regenerative relationships. It recognizes the value of existing initiatives but acts in a complementary manner, expanding the resilience and prosperity of these communities.

The strategy utilizes a careful analysis of the territory and the concept of urban acupuncture as a sensitive and immediate action. Underutilized vacant spaces—within a 50-meter radius—were selected for the implementation of the first units, responding to needs identified through dialogue with residents: bathrooms, kitchens, shelter, and security.

More than offering physical protection, the project proposes a new form of presence: firm yet respectful. It affirms the importance of those who already live and resist, offering support so that these lives can be restructured with dignity. By raising the platforms off the ground, it also creates space for nature to return and regenerate, reestablishing more caring relationships between body, territory, and environment.

Because yes, architecture can and should be a tool for social justice. But to do so, we must recognize that, for too long, it has been complicit in processes of exclusion, removal, and silencing. The challenge is not just to design, but to restore connections, give visibility, and structure the permanence of those who, for decades, have been silenced.

Participate in the program of debates, workshops and associated activities!

TODAY (10.10)

2:30 pm – table Risk-Free Periphery in the Context of Climate Change

4pm – table Knowing to Transform: Community Climate Risk Reduction and Adaptation Plans

6:30 pm – table Inclusive Adaptation: Nature-Based Solutions in the Peripheries

9am – Drawing Workshop: Oscar Niemeyer's Architecture in Ibirapuera Park and the Climate Challenge

IN THE NEXT DAYS (11 to 14.10)

ATTENTION the table Palmas: For 36 years, the ecological capital of Tocantins which would be held on 10/11 | 7pm was canceled.

11.10 and 12.10 | 9am – workshop Inventa(rio) Fronteiras: Playing for Multispecies Cities

11.10 | 10am – workshop Elémenterre teaching bag

11.10 | 11am – table Learning to inhabit the Anthropocene: the crisis of architecture

11.10 | 2pm – table Architecture for Learning and Civic Use

11.10 | 3pm – table Culture and Public Architecture

11.10 – 15h – workshop Elémenterre teaching bag

11.10 | 4pm – table Reconnecting with Nature & Circular Design

11.10 | 5pm – table Architecture of Belonging: Interpreting Heritage Through Place

12.10 | 10am – table Experience: Climate Refuges and Naturalized Public Spaces, with Eco-Neighborhood

12.10 | 10:30 am – table Childhoods and Climate: Climate Justice in Vulnerable Territories

12.10 | 10:30 am – Windsock Workshop with the Floating Collective

12.10 | 3pm – table Doing a lot with a little: architectures for a planet in transition with Esteban Benavides from Al Borde office

12.10 | 4:30 pm – table Earth – building a sustainable and democratic future

12.10 | 5:45 pm – table French presence at the Biennale and screening of the film AJAP – Albums of Young Architects and Landscape Architects

13.10 – activity Pantanal Action at IABsp

10/14 | 10am – table Urgent Panorama! Space as an act of permanence

14.10 | 6pm – Launch of the “Nature-Based Education” Guide

JOIN! IT'S ALL FREE!

And there's much more until October 19th!

NOTE OF CONDOLENCE

With deep sorrow, the Brazilian Institute of Architects – São Paulo Department (IABsp) mourns the passing of architect and landscape architect Kongjian Yu, a global leader in ecological urbanism, and the members of his team who accompanied him, tragically killed during the filming of a documentary. The institute is honored to have had him as a participant in the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial, where his transformative vision strengthened the dialogue between global challenges and local realities. IABsp emphasizes that Yu's contribution, which transcends borders, will remain an inspiration for generations and expresses its condolences to China, to the families of all the deceased, to his friends, and to all those impacted by his genius and dedication. Read the full note here.

Links: between margins, cycles and belonging

Fine Arts University Center