Oficinas Archives - 14ᵃ Bienal Internacional de Arquitetura de São Paulo

Workshops

“To perceive is not to observe from the outside a world stretched out before oneself; on the contrary, it is to enter into a point of view, just as we empathize. Perception is participation.” (Lapoujade)

For a week, the workshop proposes an exercise in paying attention and listening to the landscapes and territories of Ibirapuera Park. We will observe shapes, patterns, textures, and gestures, seeking the grammars of nature expressed in its beings, materials, and processes.
We will focus our investigations on the smallest detail. We will use cartography as a living method of research and recording. By drawing lines, noting perceptions, and recognizing repetitions, we open up space to translate observations into provisional materialities. This practice draws on contemporary art references, site-specific notions, and collective practices, fostering a reflection on how to create beauty in dialogue with the territory.
Mentored by Jane Hall and Vitor Barão, the group will combine perceptions and insights through the creation of an aesthetic object. We will experiment with forms of expression that emerge from the encounter between landscape, body, and group.

Jane Hall is an author and founding member of Assemble, a Turner Prize-winning British architecture collective. A research fellow at the Royal College of Art, she authored the groundbreaking study, "Breaking Ground: Architecture by Women" (Phaidon, 2019), which discusses women's historically neglected contributions to architecture. In her most recent book, "Woman Made" (Phaidon, 2021), Jane shares her learnings about the world's best designers, expanding the visibility of women's work in the history of design and architecture.

Vitor Barão holds a degree in Biology from the University of São Paulo (USP) and a Master of Science from the Botany Department at IB-USP. He is a photographer and self-taught chef. He works as a multidisciplinary artist, working across the languages of art, science, cuisine, and technology. He is a biomimicry consultant and advisor for art and technology projects, as well as a professor of the undergraduate design program at the Istituto Europeu di Design, specializing in "Biodesign." He is a maker with experience in inventing devices for scenography, companies, and products, and in hands-on education at various schools.

Schedule:

September 29 (Monday): IED São Paulo – 9am to 11:40am
September 30 (Tuesday): Biennial at Oca | Ibirapuera – 10am to 12:40pm
October 1st (Wednesday): Biennial at Oca | Ibirapuera – 10am to 12:40pm
October 2 (Thursday): Biennial at Oca | Ibirapuera – 10am to 12:40pm
October 3 (Friday): Biennial at Oca | Ibirapuera – 10am to 12:40pm

Total workload: 15 hours

The activity is supported by IED-SP and the British Council.

Free

Registration:

There are only a few vacancies available. Sign up and wait for confirmation via email.
Registration:

Registrations must be made here.

Workshops

senseBox:bike: bikes and data with open technologies

The workshop invites participants to immerse themselves in a hands-on experience that combines citizen science, open technology, and urban mobility. The idea is to explore the city by bicycle, transforming them into veritable mobile laboratories capable of collecting environmental and mobility data in real time. Throughout the event, bicycles equipped with open-source sensors will measure parameters such as air quality, temperature, humidity, pavement conditions, and passing distance for motorized vehicles. In this way, urban conditions become not only visible but also quantifiable and debatable from the perspective of the average citizen.

The meeting begins with a brief introduction to the senseBox:bike technology, highlighting the importance of open sensors and transparency of collected data. Participants will have the opportunity to understand how the senseBox:bike sensor kit works, install it on a bicycle, and learn how to operate the system in a simple and collaborative way. Following this, an optional 15- to 30-minute ride through the city streets will be held, during which participants will collect environmental and mobility data.

Back in the workshop space, the collected data will be visualized, enabling a collective debate on how this information, generated in a participatory manner, can support both social mobilization and public policy monitoring. This stage aims to demonstrate that, rather than relying exclusively on official data, citizens can also produce concrete evidence for urban planning and advocacy for better cycling conditions.

To participate in the tour, it is recommended to bring your own bicycle. By the end of the workshop, participants will have experienced a new perspective on cycling through the city. Combined with the use of open data, this approach can strengthen communities and generate dialogue with public authorities for a more democratic and sustainable future for urban mobility.

Free

Vacancies: 15

👉 Bring your bike.

Registration:
Registrations must be made here.
Selection will be made in order of registration.
Registration will be open until the start of the activity, on site, as long as there are spaces available.

Workshops

Inventa(rio) Fronteiras: Playing for Multispecies Cities

On October 11th and 12th, eight workshops will be held, each lasting 1.5 hours. The full schedule and times are at the bottom of the page.

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The EA-UFMG Nature Politics Research and Extension group is proposing the workshop "Inventa(rio) Fronteiras – Playing for Multispecies Cities," developed from the academic research project "Fronteiras" (FAPEMIG APQ-02540-24). The activity is structured around a game that serves as a methodological tool aimed at deepening the understanding of socio-environmental conflicts in the fields of architecture, urbanism, and landscaping. The proposal is part of the group's discussion on methodologies for Multispecies Projects, which seek to integrate non-human agents as active subjects in the constitution and maintenance of urban ecosystems. Through playful dynamics, it invites participants to map, narrate, and imagine other ways of inhabiting territories, recognizing the multiple existences that make up life in cities. The workshop encourages attentive listening to the visible and invisible borders that mark spaces and their conflicts, expanding the critical and sensitive repertoire for professional and academic practice.

Team – Nature Policy Research and Extension Group EA – UFMG.
Coordination: Luciana Braganza, Marcela Brandão.
Scholarship holders: Ana Clara Vitor, Beatriz Amorim, Geisielly Saroa, Maria Clara Campos, Thales Andrade, Bruna Sirotheau, Marcelo Eisenberg.

The proposed game, developed by the group, is a playful methodology that simulates the construction of cities through the interaction between individuals, highlighting how urban projects can benefit or harm different individuals. It is structured as an Empathy Game and considers the interaction and coexistence of different species—human and non-human—in built environments, seeking to overcome communication and interpretation challenges that often hinder understanding in urban design and planning processes. The game's structure, objectives, and dynamics allow each player to experience the construction of the watershed as their character.

The goal is to promote a critical discussion on climate resilience and urban planning, using games as a dialogical tool. The workshop aims to raise awareness among participants about conflict situations in planned territories, which often marginalize the presence of non-human subjects and some humans, such as racialized people and the homeless. This workshop hopes to not only spark reflection but also inspire projects and concrete actions toward more inclusive cities.

Participants will be invited to play with their bodies, assuming roles such as water, wind, plants, animals, or humans from various groups. The pawns are the people themselves. Construction, conflict, connectivity, and permanence cards introduce real-life situations and spaces, such as buildings, floods, deforestation, and afforestation, allowing players to experience the consequences of different urban interventions depending on the character they play.

Free

Vacancies: 20 per class (8 classes)

Attention: Bring drawing materials. Do not wear high heels or pointy shoes.

Registration:
Registrations must be made by form available here.
Selection will be made in order of registration.
Registration will be open until October 10, 2025.

Schedule:
Each workshop will last 1h30

11/10 – 9am to 10:30am
11/10 – 10:30 am to 12 pm
October 11th – 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
11/10 – 3:30pm to 5pm

12/10 – 9am to 10:30am
12/10 – 10:30 am to 12 pm
October 12th – 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
12/10 – 3:30pm to 5pm

If you have any questions, please contact the Natureza Política Group via email: natureza.política@gmail.com.

Workshops

Production of bioceramics from shell waste for the built environment

Oca Pavilion | 1st floor | Live Lab

The workshop will explore the potential of marine biomaterials, based on the CONQ project, developed by Heidi Jalkh and Angie Dub. Inspired by nature, this solution investigates how materials such as seashells can be transformed into bioceramics at room temperature. These bioceramics represent a sustainable alternative for building facade cladding systems, monomaterials custom-designed to achieve a variety of mechanical and aesthetic properties. Participants are also invited to reflect on the environmental and social impacts of using waste as a resource, highlighting the potential of marine-derived biomaterials in regenerative design and the local circular economy.

Every year, more than 10 million tons of shells—primarily from oysters, scallops, and mussels—are discarded as waste. This project explores how marine resources, often overlooked as byproducts, can serve as a basis for material experimentation in architecture, design, crafts, and science. It highlights innovative material practices that redefine the relationship between the built environment and the ecosystems that sustain it.

Spanning multiple scales—from buildings and building elements to material value chains—the project examines how design can foster new interdependencies between materials, construction, and ecological systems.

At the heart of this investigation is the collaborative research of environmental architect Angie Dub and experimental designer Heidi Jalkh, who have been transforming discarded seashells into a sustainable material for the built environment. By combining crushed seashells with algae-based biopolymers, they produce a heat-free bioceramic composed entirely of marine biomass. This practice-based research rethinks bioregional value chains, exploring the potential of marine waste within urban areas such as Buenos Aires and Berlin, the cities where the designers are based.

Through prototypes, raw materials, molded components, and test samples developed during the research phase, the project offers a detailed exploration of material transformation—from shell to final product.

CONQ presents an emerging modular construction system, illustrating the potential application of this shell-based bioceramic and pointing to future research directions. Furthermore, the material samples reveal the diversity of colors and finishes that naturally emerge from different shell species, demonstrating the material's inherent variability and the design's balance between mechanical performance and aesthetic versatility.

The project emphasizes the urgent need for a transition from extractive practices to regenerative and circular economies. Rather than viewing natural resources as inert and merely extractable elements, it proposes a dynamic and systemic approach that recognizes the deep interconnections between materials, buildings, and the ecosystems that sustain them.

Workshops

Nature-Based Solutions for City Resilience

Climate change in recent decades has posed new challenges to how cities are planned and managed. The increasing frequency of extreme events, such as heat waves, flash floods, prolonged periods of drought, and rising sea levels, highlights that the traditional urbanization model, based on rigid and poorly adaptable structures, no longer offers adequate responses to current demands. In this scenario, a new approach to urban management is urgently needed, based on systems thinking, capable of integrating mitigation and adaptation strategies, integrating residents as co-protagonists, and reconciling human development with environmental balance.

It is in this context that projects that utilize Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) stand out. These solutions are based on the principle that natural processes can be incorporated into urban dynamics to offer long-term social, economic, and environmental benefits.

Different types of NBS, such as constructed wetlands, bioswales, bioretention and detention basins, river rewilding, urban sponge forests, among others, help urban environments absorb, store, and reuse rainwater, reducing flooding and improving aquifer recharge. Green spaces, linear parks, green roofs, rain gardens, and ecological corridors become strategic elements, while simultaneously promoting population well-being, increasing soil permeability, conserving biodiversity, and contributing to thermal comfort. In this way, ecosystem services—such as climate regulation, air purification, protection of fauna and flora, and the provision of recreational spaces—are continuously enhanced, expanding collective gains.

The proposed workshops seek to explore precisely this transformative potential. Using a fictional city as a starting point, participants will be invited to analyze urban challenges and propose different NBS, exercising creativity and integrated thinking when faced with complex problems. The process will be overseen by the Sustainable PRO team, which will present the fundamental concepts for implementing NBS, including bioengineering techniques, ensuring that the solutions developed are not only technically feasible but also consistent with social and environmental needs.

More than an academic exercise, the workshops aim to awaken a critical and innovative perspective in participants, demonstrating that adapting to climate change depends not only on large-scale engineering projects, but also on small, multiple interventions, inspired by the very logic of nature and the involvement of residents as co-protagonists of the projects. Thus, each proposal will contribute to reinforcing the idea that greener, more permeable, and integrated cities are also more humane cities, prepared to face the climate challenges of the present and future. Bonus: POP Book.

Free

Vacancies: 25 per class (2 classes)

Each participant will receive 1 book about Parque Orla Piratininga as a gift.

Class 1

6.10 – from 2pm to 5pm

Class 2

7.10 – from 3pm to 6pm

Registration:
Registrations must be made by form available here.

Registration will be open until one day before the workshop starts.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Workshops

Design marathon to communicate fair, resilient and low-carbon cities

Climate change is a threat to humanity, and the window of opportunity to significantly mitigate its impacts is rapidly closing. Climate risks are worsening faster and more severely than anticipated, making adaptation increasingly challenging. In cities, the climate crisis intensifies existing risks, such as heat waves, floods, landslides, and limited drinking water supplies. Considering that more than half the world's population lives in these areas, extreme weather events in these spaces result in severe socioeconomic impacts and high morbidity and mortality rates.

This activity proposes a collaborative design marathon – in the style of a “hackathon” – that invites participants to build imaginaries about the adaptation of Brazilian cities to climate change.

The goal is to encourage the collective construction of visual representations that express strategies, solutions, and desirable futures for adapted cities, from a perspective of socio-environmental justice and aligned with the challenges faced by cities in the Global South. The illustrations should convey, in an accessible and engaging manner, concepts related to resilient and low-carbon urban development, disaster risk management, water management, sustainable mobility with an emphasis on active modes and public transportation, the presence of nature in urban spaces, nature-based solutions, low-carbon construction materials and techniques adapted to local biomes, urban afforestation, urban biodiversity, and decent, safe, and climate-adapted housing.

Registration is free and open to all interested parties. We invite designers, architecture and urban planning professionals, visual artists, communicators, climate change experts, architecture students, and anyone else who might be interested.

An image will be selected, and its creators will be hired to develop the final version. The final image will be licensed under the following license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This means the image can be shared and adapted as long as credit is given and the use is non-commercial.

The criteria for selecting the winning image are:
– Clarity and adherence to the proposal: ability to communicate the proposed solution in a direct, understandable and structured manner and in line with the thematic proposal.
– Simplicity, clarity and coherence: clear visual representation of the concepts proposed by the notice.
– Accessibility: presentation of concepts in a way that is understandable to different audiences.
– Synthesis: condensation of central ideas into an objective representation
– Visual impact: creating an attractive and memorable image that attracts attention and remains remembered.
– Graphic representation: quality, coherence, and suitability of the compositions of graphic representations. Graphic representations are understood as the set of drawings, texts, colors, textures, and other elements that facilitate and detail the understanding of the proposed solution.
– Climate justice approach: the proposal must consider the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the proposed solutions, in order to promote climate justice in this context.

Subsequently, the images produced and selected during the hackathon will be exhibited at a location and date to be defined.

Free

Vacancies: 50

Registration

Registrations must be made by form available here.
Selection will be made in order of registration.
Registration will be open until the start of the Workshop, on site, as long as there are spaces available.

Image credit: Jeffrey Raven, 2016.

If you have any questions, interested parties may contact the IABsp Climate and City Working Group via the following email address: gt_emergenciaclimatica@iabsp.org.br

Workshops

Between blades and gaps: project models in Glulam

The construction sector accounts for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, and the adoption of renewable materials becomes crucial in the face of the climate emergency. In this context, engineered wood stands out as a viable alternative, incorporating CO₂ into its growth cycle, reducing structural loads, and enabling prefabricated solutions that minimize waste onsite. However, designing with these technologies requires professionals to master specific guidelines, topics still rarely covered in traditional architectural training in Brazil.

The workshop "Entre Laminas e Vais" (Between Blades and Spans) addresses this knowledge gap, encouraging tactile and direct interaction with the material and disseminating concepts for designing timber structures within a Brazilian context. In groups, participants will receive kits containing scaled-down parts to develop a low-complexity architectural project, assisted by architects and engineers specializing in such structures. The process is a collective investigation, in which hypotheses are tested directly during the model's construction process.

Overall, the workshop is an immersive experience that combines technical learning, design practice, and critical reflection on sustainability. Based on the real-world construction possibilities of glued laminated timber (GLT), the activity proposes the creation of physical models as the primary tool for experimenting with and designing timber structures. Thus, the workshop seeks to revive manual practices for learning and applying cutting-edge technology as a contribution to a more sustainable national architecture.

Free
Vacancies: 30

Registration:
Registrations must be made by form available here.
Selection will be made based on the training and professional performance of applicants, forming a diverse group with different experiences.
Registration will be open until September 30th.

Workshops

Grammars of Nature – architectures of the infinitesimal

Oca Pavilion | 1st floor | Live Lab

The workshop proposes practicing precariousness as a poetic power in architecture. Inspired by artists such as Cecilia Vicuña, Antonio Bispo, Manoel de Barros, and Bachelard, participants will create small, ephemeral constructions, practicing ways of living that weave possible paths of engagement with the world.

Victor Baron

A biologist with a Master's degree in Science from the Department of Botany at the University of São Paulo, he is also a photographer and self-taught chef. He works as a multidisciplinary artist who works across the languages of art, science, nature, cuisine, and technology. He is a researcher, consultant, and professor of biomimicry, a documentarian of creative processes, and co-founder of Gramáticas da Natureza, which focuses on education, science, and poetry.

Carolina Coronato

An artist and educator, she develops her research and artistic practice through the construction of cartographies—aesthetic-poetic representations of subjective territories—places where perceptions and experiences born from encounters with and in nature materialize. She is a co-founder of Gramáticas da Natureza (Graphics of Nature), an approach that proposes poetic modes of relating to the natural world.

Grammars of Nature

Gramáticas da Natureza is a platform that explores ways of knowing and experiencing nature. The project proposes residencies, installations, expeditions, workshops, and performative banquets, adopting the languages of art and science as bridges to experience. In its actions, the collective activates forms of care and the construction of subjectivity based on the relationship between landscape, aesthetics, and sharing.

Vacancies: 20

Duration time: 60 minutes

Free

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

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

Selection will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. At least two affirmative places will be reserved per class.

Workshops

Invisible water, divided city: dialogues and proposals for the Água Preta and Sumaré Basins

Proponents: Architect Prof. Dr. Renata Priore Lima (UNIP); Architect Ms. Antonio Castelo Branco Teixeira Jr. (Amora Perdizes); Architect Prof. Dr. Beatriz de Almeida Pacheco (UNIP); Architect Ms. Thamires Zelinda dos Santos Souza (FAU Mackenzie).

This workshop will be a space for reflection and collective action, focusing on the relationship between the city and its waters. The initial discussion will feature recordings of previous walks through the two neighboring basins (Água Preta and Sumaré), raising questions about how to combine local solutions with integrated watershed planning. The discussion will address sustainable drainage projects and green-blue infrastructure, exploring everything from microdrainage techniques such as permeable pavements, rain gardens, bioretention ponds, and bioswales; to territorial-scale macrodrainage strategies such as linear parks, floodplain parks, and ecological corridors, which promote water retention and infiltration into the urban fabric.

Starting with technical walks through the basins of the Sumaré and Água Preta streams, which are areas marked by covered springs, large reservoir projects over squares and the degradation of protected green areas, the activity seeks to identify conflicts and opportunities to implement Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and develop proposals, through models and sketches.
This workshop arises from the urgent need to rethink the role of architecture and urban design in the face of the water and climate crisis in São Paulo. The focus is on these two river basins (Sumaré and Água Preta), located in the West Zone of the city of São Paulo, which are home to channeled streams and unfinished gray infrastructure projects, in addition to witnessing the reduction of green areas due to the removal of vegetation cover to make way for new condominiums. Added to this are institutional projects of large swimming pools over tree-lined squares and new subway stations, which exacerbate flooding in the area and the formation of heat islands. Given this scenario, a practical laboratory for redesigning urban infrastructure is proposed. The initiative demonstrates how architecture can mediate the relationship between technology and territory, converting degraded spaces into multifunctional systems that integrate drainage, biodiversity, and public use.

Vacancies: 120

Free

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Registration will be open until October 5, 2025.

Workshops

CLIMATIVA: Climate Action Plan for Brazilian cities

CLIMATIVA, comprised of two major phases, facilitates a cross-cutting approach within municipal public administration for the participatory and autonomous development of the PAC. This method brings the population that is invariably affected by the consequences of extreme events into the development of responses to the climate crisis.

During the risk assessment stage, data on the territory's characterization, damaging events, climate projections, public policies, infrastructure, and land use are analyzed to obtain an initial indication of climate risks. Subsequently, two additional assessments of territorial climate risks are conducted through participatory workshops. A first set of workshops seeks to understand the situation through the eyes of technicians working with the municipal administration, and a second set through the voice of the population. The result of the first stage is a collectively constructed climate risk assessment, from which recommendations for climate actions relevant to that context are made. This initial filtering of actions is used for prioritization by the population and, subsequently, for the technical details and drafting of the PAC.

It is recommended that the process be initiated by the municipal government, which is responsible for implementing and monitoring the PAC. However, the PAC's development work is led by a management group composed of municipal technicians and civil society representatives. In addition to lending greater legitimacy to the PAC, this partnership proves essential for broadening the municipal vision of the climate crisis's challenges and expanding the range of possible responses for the region.

Vacancies: 25

Free

Registration

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Priority will be given to public servants and people working professionally in small and medium-sized cities.

Registration will be open until September 24, 2025.

Workshops

For a sustainable production chain of ornamental plants in the city of São Paulo

Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture is one of the strategies to curb the advance of urban sprawl, as an economic activity compatible with nature. In this context, the ornamental crop production chain is highly relevant in the Southern Rural Zone of São Paulo, both territorially and economically. Therefore, the Sampa+Rural Program has been conducting innovative, focused work to support the agroecological transition of these crops, providing technical assistance and rural extension, in a pilot project involving 20 farmers. This involves the adoption of conservation practices, intensified biological treatments through the use of solid and liquid bioinputs, consistent soil coverage, and, most importantly, the elimination of herbicides and/or other practices that impair soil permeability.

We invite landscaping professionals to contribute to a greener and more sustainable city, alongside rural producers and public officials from the São Paulo City Hall (SMDET and SVMA). We want to understand the purchasing needs of this market and the possibilities for support on this path to sustainability, such as the inclusion of native species and the encouragement of local and sustainable production. The activity seeks to encourage dialogue between these stakeholders, aiming to build awareness and market maturity regarding the importance of agroecological production in the municipality, so that these initiatives can be valued and enhanced. It also brings to the debate the issue of native species, which are researched and cultivated by SVMA at the Manequinho Lopes Nursery, and which could be produced in agricultural areas, generating ecosystem benefits for the city. We understand that the more space this type of production gains, the greater the potential for other conventional producers to embrace the move toward a healthier city for all forms of life. As part of the 14th International Architecture Biennial, we propose this meeting to establish connections in the construction of sustainable management appropriate for the region, which can collaborate and impact the entire city environmentally and economically.

Come be part of this innovative, nature-based solution to climate change!

September 25th – 1pm to 5pm

1:00 pm to 3:00 pm – visit to Viveiro Manequinho Lopes (Umapaz/SVMA) to see native ornamental species cultivated by the City Hall.

3pm to 5pm – discussion group with landscape architects, farmers and municipal agents: “For a sustainable production chain of ornamental plants in the city of São Paulo”, Umapaz.

Target audience: landscaping professionals, ornamental producers, public officials

Vacancies: 50

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Workshops

Lecture Rivers and Streets / Guajava and Expedition through the Audio Guide “Águas do Ibirapuera”

After an interactive lecture led by architects and urban planners José Bueno and Riciane Pombo, we will invite participants to a guided walk through the Park to understand the formation of Ibirapuera Lake by the Sapateiro River Basin with the support of the Audio Guide “Aguas do Ibirapuera” produced in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art in 2022.

Rios e Ruas was created in 2010 by architect and social urban planner José Bueno and geographer Luiz de Campos Jr. to transform the perception of millions of Brazilians regarding the difficult reality of rivers and streams confined alive beneath the urban fabric of cities. Its mission is to promote and inspire multiple initiatives to stimulate the discovery, recognition, and desire for clean and regenerated rivers in Brazilian cities.

More than just a socio-environmental education project, Rios e Ruas (Rivers and Streets) uniquely integrates art, science, and culture, having inspired and implemented hundreds of initiatives throughout its 15-year history. These initiatives have impacted thousands of people, whether through city expeditions, cultural and artistic exhibitions, publications, documentaries, inspiring lectures, or as the central theme of countless press articles.

Riciane Pombo is an architect and urban planner and founder of Guajava Arquitetura da Paisagem e Urbanismo. She specializes in architectural and environmental and urban planning projects, such as parks, squares, river restoration, and drainage systems for watersheds, applying green infrastructure principles and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). She develops technical and educational materials on NBS, supporting the formulation of public policies on this topic at the national and international levels.

Vacancies: 50

Free

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

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

Workshops

Biomaterials Mini-Workshops

Biomaterials Mini-Workshops
Designed as spaces for reflection and experimentation, the biomaterials workshops introduce the concepts of circularity and regeneration through collective practices that transform everyday organic waste into new materials. More than just exploring technical and tangible aspects, the proposal highlights that the field of biomaterials demands political positioning and socio-environmental responsibility toward territories and biomes, while also valuing the confluences between human and more-than-human lives.

Biodesign Laboratory | Circularity and Biomaterials I IED São Paulo
It's a space for fostering creativity, collaboration, and innovation, connecting teaching, research, and outreach with national and international recognition. More than just developing materials, the Biodesign | Biomaterials and Circularity Laboratory proposes rethinking the very tangible foundations of design, expanding its epistemological boundaries and cultivating inclusive and regenerative futures.

Coordination
An architect and urban planner with a master's degree in Design from the University of São Paulo, Graziela Nivoloni works at the intersection of education, nature, and business, connecting collective intelligence and systems thinking to create confluences between teaching, businesses, and organizations. At IED, she leads the Biodesign | Circularity and Biomaterials Laboratory, serves on the academic board of the Center for Innovation, Design, and Business (CR+IED), and coordinates the undergraduate program in Product and Service Design and courses in partnership with Casa Vogue.

Vacancies: 20 in each workshop

Duration time: 30 minutes

Free

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

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

Selection will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. At least two affirmative places will be reserved per class.

Confirmed schedule

September 19th – Friday – 3pm

September 19th - Friday - 5pm

September 23 – Tuesday – 3pm

September 23 – Tuesday – 5pm

September 25th – Thursday – 3pm

September 25th – Thursday – 5pm

September 30th – Tuesday – 3pm

September 30th – Tuesday – 5pm

October 2nd – Thursday – 3pm

October 2nd – Thursday – 5pm

October 7th – Tuesday – 3pm

October 7th - Tuesday - 5pm

October 9th – Thursday – 3pm

October 9th – Thursday – 5pm

October 14th – Tuesday – 3pm

October 14th – Tuesday – 5pm

October 16th – Thursday – 3pm

October 16th – Thursday – 5pm

Workshops

Biomaterials Mini-Workshops

Vacancies: 20 in each workshop

Duration time: 30 minutes

Free

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

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

Selection will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. At least two affirmative places will be reserved per class.

Confirmed schedule

September 19th – Friday – 3pm

September 19th - Friday - 5pm

September 23 – Tuesday – 3pm

September 23 – Tuesday – 5pm

September 25th – Thursday – 3pm

September 25th – Thursday – 5pm

September 30th – Tuesday – 3pm

September 30th – Tuesday – 5pm

October 2nd – Thursday – 3pm

October 2nd – Thursday – 5pm

October 7th – Tuesday – 3pm

October 7th - Tuesday - 5pm

October 9th – Thursday – 3pm

October 9th – Thursday – 5pm

October 14th – Tuesday – 3pm

October 14th – Tuesday – 5pm

October 16th – Thursday – 3pm

October 16th – Thursday – 5pm

Workshops

Essay for the Aftermath. Building as Mediation: Dialogues and Material Exchanges

The "Rehearsal for After" workshop involves the critical and creative reuse of discarded materials from construction projects and scenographic assemblies, as well as elements brought by participants. This will be the first in-person event for SuB, a community of architects from different regions of Brazil who meet periodically to discuss the broader field of architecture, the arts, and professional practice. These meetings provide members with the opportunity for dialogue between diverse professionals outside the strictly academic environment. This is the result of an initiative by architects who, after completing their doctorates, recognized a gap in the dialogue between professionals in academia and those working in the practice of the profession and other fields of architecture.

The overall goal of the project is not only to experiment with constructions in extreme scenarios and reuse existing structures, but, above all, to create as a community. The Workshop will offer visitors to the São Paulo Biennial the opportunity to meet others, not only by sharing their opinions in lectures or discussion groups, but also by taking home what they collectively build. Similarly, in recent months, the SuB Community has been promoting conversations focused on current and pressing themes, with professionals from different fields within architecture, many of whom work in the broader field of art and architecture.

Thus, on this occasion, through the manipulation of discarded objects, we hope the workshop will lead participants through a sensory, reflective, constructive, and collaborative experience, activating imaginations about how to inhabit the worlds to come. By the end, we will have creatively rehearsed, in the face of precariousness and scarcity, how to transform the uses and meanings of available objects in order to recreate the notion of individual/community. Against the backdrop of the climate and social emergency, we will rehearse the limits and possibilities of designing through improvisation and discomfort, questioning the implications of a collective body in the constructions of the After. By experimenting as a group with minimal constructed forms, participants activate a sense of cooperation, a fundamental capacity for rebuilding the idea of community in times of crisis. The After that is rehearsed here is based on emergency and an invitation to collective imaginations and possible futures, built together.

Vacancies: 25 each day

Free

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

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

It is possible to register for both days of the Workshop.

Workshops

First Half

First Half (duration: 45 minutes)
Sunday, September 28, 11am

In a way, we can say that the evolution of the city of São Paulo is strongly linked to the use made of its river floodplains, from a soccer field to a sanitation facility to inhabited areas, with valley-bottom avenues and occupied areas. Some neighborhoods in São Paulo and its outskirts are built entirely on the floodplains, and therefore it is essential to discuss what it means to inhabit and occupy these areas, especially in times of climate change.
Floodplain football, now known as amateur football, was initially played in the floodplains, lands where rivers expand when they carry a lot of water. Playing football in a floodplain meant having a temporary relationship with the water. You could only play when there wasn't much water.

We're accustomed to making a distinction between areas where there's always water, like rivers and lakes, and areas where we don't see water, and then we build houses to live in. Humans have tried to make this distinction between water and land fixed and permanent. They've drawn it on maps and built walls around rivers and dams to keep the water from escaping the space humans have decided is theirs, to keep it from invading the space they inhabit. But we constantly see that water escapes, it can't be contained.

This workshop is an invitation to discuss how you want to coexist with water in the city of São Paulo, playing amateur soccer.

We will only use one half of the field, one goal. No goalkeeper.
Participants begin in a circle and, as time progresses, spread out across the field. Initially, the ball is in the center of the circle. Anyone who wants to start speaking or express their opinion goes and gets the ball. Those who agree and want to continue speaking ask for the ball, and if anyone wants to say something different or contrary, they steal it or intercept the pass.
It may be that during this process two or more teams—groups of like-minded people—will naturally form.
Scoring a goal, in this process, becomes a way of marking a key point in the discussion for the speaker (or their group).

Vacancies: Minimum 10 participants – maximum 22 participants

Registration:

Registrations must be made by email: alessio.mazzaro@polito.it

Send: Name and contact phone number

Everyone is welcome to participate.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Registration until September 26th

The workshop will be recorded (audio and video).

Workshops

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

The workshop “Oscar Niemeyer's Architecture in Ibirapuera Park and the Climate Challenge” invites participants to reflect on the relationship between modernism, the city, and sustainability.

The starting point will be the architectural complex of Ibirapuera Park, a landmark celebration of Brazilian modernism, where Niemeyer proposed fluid, light, and open spaces for social interaction. More than half a century later, these same buildings and their location within the park become fertile ground for a current question: how can architecture respond to the demands of environmental comfort and the transformations imposed by climate change?

The course aims to develop critical observation through drawing, exploring how architectural elements—such as the monumentality of curves, the use of concrete, and the relationship between covered and open spaces—interact with environmental factors such as sunlight, shading, ventilation, and drainage. The program combines theoretical sessions, which present the history of Ibirapuera Park and its impact on São Paulo's urban planning, with practical observational drawing activities in the park itself.

The artistic practices will focus on learning and improving techniques such as linework, proportion, perspective, and the study of light, encouraging each participant to capture their own perceptions and translate into drawings the experience of observing architecture in a climatic context. At the end of the course, there will be an exhibition of the work developed.

The workshop is led by architect Leopoldo Schettino, an Italian graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II and a Master in Architecture and Urban Planning from FAU-USP. His work includes being hired by the city of Pompeii (Naples) to develop the city's master plan and redevelopment projects for open spaces—such as squares and gardens—an experience that solidified his thinking on the relationship between urban space, landscape, and quality of life.

His international experience also extends to meetings and workshops in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, led by renowned architects such as Álvaro Siza, Aires Mateus, and João Nunes, who constantly expand his critical and design vision. In Brazil, his career has been linked to collaborations with leading firms, including Oscar Niemeyer Arquiteto, Isay Weinfeld, and Pascali Semerdjian Arquitetos. A specialist in traditional and digital drawing techniques, Leopoldo Schettino combines design and teaching practices, offering a sensitive, critical, and pragmatic perspective on architecture and its role in contemporary challenges.

Vacancies: 50 (vacancies have been increased)

Free

Attention: The workshop will be held in two sessions, on October 10th and 12th. It is not possible to participate in just one of the days.

Registration:

Registrations must be made by form available here.

Selection will be made in order of registration.

Registration will be open until September 30, 2025.

Workshops

Imagining Architectures for a Warming World

“Imagining Architectures for a Warming World” is a 20-hour hands-on workshop that invites participants to explore the speculative potential of artificial intelligence applied to urban imagination in times of climate emergency. Using ComfyUI (Stable Diffusion) software, participants will learn to manipulate urban images to design visual interventions that critically respond to scenarios of risk, injustice, and collapse, but also imagine sustainable, regenerative, and desirable futures.

The workshop seeks to broaden participants' imaginative range by proposing the creation of both utopian and dystopian visual compositions, articulating visual narratives that critically and creatively reflect on the climate crisis. AI is understood here as a tool for aesthetic and political mediation, capable of challenging the relationship between representation and action in the urban context.

Divided into five modules—introduction, two production sessions, finalization, and exhibition—the workshop combines theory, practice, and collective creation. The final product will be a public exhibition at the Biennial, composed of projected images. The proposal aligns with the curatorial axes of the 14th BIAsp by addressing climate justice, urban adaptation, and symbolic reforestation of cities.

Open to students, architects, urban planners, artists, and other interested parties, the activity will have up to 20 participants, selected based on a letter of intent and portfolio. Each participant must bring their own laptop capable of running ComfyUI or using a cloud service (such as RunPod). The workshop will provide installation tutorials and prior guidance. The Biennial will provide internet infrastructure, tables, chairs, and a projector.

The workshop is free, subject to registration and selection process.

The final product will be a collective installation open to the public in the Biennial space.

Vacancies: 10

Free

About the proponents:

Victor Sardenberg is an architect and researcher focused on experimentation in architectural design, particularly in the areas of computational aesthetics, robotic fabrication, and artificial intelligence. In his doctoral thesis at Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), he developed a computational framework for predicting aesthetic preferences using artificial neural networks. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Mackenzie Presbyterian University and a professor at Detmolder Schule für Gestaltung (Germany).

Camila Zyngier is an architect and urban planner, professor at UFMG, and researcher in the areas of urban planning, geotechnologies, and participatory methodologies. Her work combines academic practice and creative criticism, exploring topics such as urban visualization and artificial intelligence in urban planning.

Marcella Carone is an architect, computational designer, and professor. With a Master's degree from AA (MSc EmTech) and a bachelor's degree from Mackenzie University, she has over a decade of experience in multi-scale projects. She works with feasibility, algorithmic design, AI, optimization, and digital fabrication. She is the creative director of M3C1, a firm that investigates the intersections of architecture, urbanism, design, and technology. She teaches in the graduate program at Mackenzie University, in addition to leading workshops on AI and computational design.

Structure

Module 1: Introduction and Contextualization (9/15 – 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm – Online) Presentation of the 14th BIAsp and its theme Examples of images and interventions with AI Installation and introduction to ComfyUI

Module 2: Production I – Desirable Interventions (September 19 – 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM – In-person) Representing climate risks and injustices (dystopias, collapses, resistance)

Module 3: Production II – Warning Scenarios (September 20th – 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM – In-person) Reimagining the city with a focus on positive solutions (climate utopias)

Module 4: Finalizing Images and Printing (9/21 – 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM – In-person) Curating the images produced Preparing files for printing/exhibition

Module 5: Exhibition of Results: Collective installation at BIAsp (projection and/or printing). Open discussion with the audience and participants. Organization of the Final Product: display of the generated images, printed or projected on the wall. The workshop concludes with an exhibition open to the public.

Registration:

Registrations must be made by email: vsardenberg@gmail.com

Selection will be made after analysis of the material sent in the application.

Documents to be submitted upon registration:

Full name

Contact email and phone number

City of residence

Letter of intent (approximately 3 paragraphs)

Up to 3 images of previous work that help demonstrate the candidate's creative and/or technical profile (can be included in the PDF or sent separately)

Selection criteria:

Participants will be selected based on the letter of intent and work examples submitted, considering:

Clarity and depth of interest in the workshop topic

Quality and coherence of the images presented

Diversity of profiles and areas of activity among those selected

Deadline for registration:

Registration will be open until September 13, 2025.

The result will be announced by email by September 14, 2025.

Other information:

Participants must bring their own laptops capable of running ComfyUI, or bring a simpler laptop and pay for the use of a cloud service (such as RunPod, approx. 10 USD).

A tutorial with installation and preparation instructions will be sent in advance to those selected.