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Brazil Studio

The Brazil Studio is an architectural design-construction program,based in Brazil, where students and professionals create community based projects involving architecture, land-scape and urban design.
The Brazil Studio’s focus is on the Northeast region of Brazil, where great economic poverty contrasts with great wealth of cultural and artistic traditions. The Brazil Studio emphasizes a philosophy of educational exchange, where students learn about African & Indigenous cultural arts & ritual traditions, while designing & building a complete public project. Students will gain knowledge of the traditional arts and cultural expressions of the region such as Capoeira Angola, Samba, Maracatu, Candomblé, and other traditions to lead them in the development of their ideas and design. Students explore design and construction with recycled and natural building materials in a tropical climate while working closely with our skilled staff.

In 2006, we began working in the community of Plataforma on the outskirts of Salvador, Bahia. Through our work in this area, we developed a close relationship with the members of that community. We learned that it is critical to work on projects that are public, useful, and fully realizable in a short amount of time. We also decided that the continued cultivation of our relationships with individuals in this one, small community, is critical to the sustainability and the meaning of our work. With this in mind, we continue to return to the same neighborhood to complete small but vital projects.

At the Brazil Studio, students learn to detail. In the “developed” world, architects can rely on standardization of detailing techniques because of the ready availability of specific, proven building materials. At the Brazil Studio, students will gain a deeper understanding of the principles behind those details. They may use reference books like Architectural Graphic Standards to study the detail, but will need to transfer the principles of those details the materials and means available to realize them on site, at the project. We believe this makes for better architects who can adapt problem solving to any circumstance.

Because of the dynamic nature of all construction projects, and the increased unpredictable nature of working in the context of a developing economy, where most students do not speak the language, students also become more adaptable and able to continue moving forward in the face of challenges. Students from the U.S. are particularly impacted by the culture of reuse and recycling, where one does not abandon a broken tool for a new one from Home Depot, but, rather, he/she fixes it – usually with the help of a 10 year old child from Plataforma, who already has these skills and notions of thinking.

The course is taught by a team of instructors who bring expertise from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. Please see our WHO'S WHO section for more information.