Architecture Beyond Design: Getting to Know BLOCO Arquitetos’ Work

Written by Equipe ArchDaily Brasil | Translated by Diogo Simões
Published on February 03, 2022

Each project can be a powerful context transformation tool. This is one of the conceptual bases of BLOCO Arquitetos, founded by Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco. Based in Brasília, the Brazilian capital and a symbol of modern architecture worldwide, the office works at different scales and programs, and is characterized by its multidisciplinary work that encompasses initiatives to value Brazilian architectural culture and the profession itself.

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As architecture students at UnB during the 1990s, the founding architects restlessly experienced the review and critique of the modernist legacy and its premises. As interns, they went through different experiences at a time marked by the profusion of experimental stylistic approaches and, when they found themselves in these professional practices, they decided to found their own office - which was initially called Mundo Quatro, then Domo and, in 2008, had the name BLOCO Arquitetos signed after a meeting with Carla Juaçaba, Fernando Fortes and Bruno Santa Cecília.

With an unfavorable context for a new generation of architects from Brasilia and their professional initiatives, the trio relied on their design practice which, as they say, "is directly related to their specific constraints such as topography, solar orientation of the site and constructions costs", and their office has consolidated itself as one of Brazil’s most prominent, by receiving the most important national awards, being nominated in important international awards and being present in the most distinguished media, including The New York Times.

Allied to the exercise of precise design and an authorial language that is built with each project, the office also presents an ethical commitment to the profession of architect and urbanist from the foundation of Brasília Moderna project - which promotes awareness of the importance of preservation and maintenance of buildings built by the first generation of architects in the Brazilian capital - and by integrating the Atelier Piloto - which articulates the interaction between students, professionals and schools through the organization of lectures and design workshops that promote a reflection on architecture and the City.

Here are ten projects carried out by BLOCO Arquitetos that have already been published on ArchDaily Brasil: