II Bienal Brasileira de Design

I'll post more about this week soon. For now, here are the pictures of some beautiful architecture and a few amazing people.

in the heart of brazil

I'm in Brasília for a Design convention that's going on here:

This is my first time in the city and so far I'm not sure what to think besides that it's all very different. The streets don't have names: they whole city is divided into "sectors", "blocks", and "numbers". The city is shaped like an airplane, so people refer to "wings" to talk about locations. Weird and awesome, right? The avenues are wide, there are no sidewalks AT ALL. The architecture is UNBELIEVABLE. I've traveled a lot and I have yet to see something that compares to the visual impact that all the huge white monuments here have.

You can see some beautiful pictures here, here and here.

Now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow will be a long, long day. Pictures to come.

affordability, sustainability, safety, beauty

Say what you want to say about the man behind the project, I don't care, that's beside the point. This is a beautiful project and I'm excited to see something like it happen.

Make It Right Nola is a project launched by Brad Pitt to help bring families back home to New Orleans, after having their houses destroyed by Katrina.

13 architecture firms were commissioned to design green affordable housing to be built at the impoverished Lower Ninth Ward. The future residents will be able to choose the layout of their home from a list of designs selected by Make It Right, which to me, sets this project apart from so many others that may have come before. The idea that people will be able to go back to a place that was carefully designed for them is nothing short of outstanding. Those people have lost everything they had, and most of them probably never had much to start with, so rescuing their self-esteem seems just as urgent as giving them a home.

You can see the selected designs here.

Anybody can donate anything, from a dollar to $150,000, which is the cost of a full house. The website also gives you information about how to sponsor specific things, such as landscaping, appliances, low VOC paint, efficient lighting, rooftop solar panels, etc. Click on the pictures below, go check out the website and maybe help if you can.