What does it mean for architecture to be ethical?

We will set out to reflect on this and other questions in responding to a site based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts. The school is housed in an eclectic, heritage-listed mansion, located in what is left of the Atlantic rainforest that once surrounded it, the Tijuca National Park. Many of the most iconic contemporary Brazilian artists, including Ernesto Neto and Adriana Varejão, studied there. The site has been used as a setting for cult movies such as Glauber Rocha’s Terra em Transe (1967) and Joaquim Pedro de Andrade’s Macunaíma (1969). Today, as well as housing the school, Parque Lage hosts important cultural and counter-cultural events happening in the city.

This will be an inspiring setting from which to ask the question of whether – and how – architecture can play a role in starting to rehabilitate a social and political structure that seems to have been fundamentally and irretrievably, damaged. Rio de Janeiro is one of the most complex and fascinating cities in the world. It is a place of stark contrasts, with sprawling favelas set against luxurious gated communities, and lush nature that insists on making itself present in the face of growing urbanisation. The problems of Rio are local as well as global. While reflecting the particularities of a specific culture, they resonate with some of the most urgent challenges confronting contemporary society, including social inequality, urban violence, the crisis of democracy and environmental issues.

We will learn collectively through site visits and the the analysis of specific cultural artefacts. Responding to their first impressions, each student will be invited to dig deeper into a chosen topic in order to create a vocabulary for an architectural intervention. Making use of this vocabulary, students will propose a pavilion for the site. At the end of the year, these projects will be reviewed by our client, Giacomo Pirazzoli, an architectural lecturer from the University of Florence and the Head of International Affairs at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts.

Our programme is integrated into the events leading up to UIA 2020 Rio: 27th World Congress of Architects, and Rio 2020: World Capital of Architecture – Unesco UIA.