Architecture Workshop in Brasil opens the door to Partnership

Getting a feel for a metropolis and think about the lack of space in the housing market: eleven architecture students along with their professors Helmut Bielenski and Roger Karbe from the Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts undertook a study excursion to Brazil, i.a. to São Paulo. At the same time, a partnership with the resident Belas Artes University was initiated.

Designing an apartment of 16 square meters for four people and roofing over an inner courtyard - that was the task for eleven architecture students from Coburg University and their international fellow students from the Universidad Belas Artes in São Paulo. The property they had to redesign was a high-rise building from the 1940s. In São Paulo lives more than 21 million people. 396,000 are homeless, although more than 600,000 apartments are left vacant. Squatting and illegal settlements are the consequence and a big problem, said Professor Dr. Denise Falcão Pessoa, who teaches at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Design of the Belas Arte University. Together with Judith Weinstock-Montag, visiting lecturer at the Coburg University, she organized a workshop for German and Brazilian architecture students.

Together they discussed solutions, sketched out designs and built relevant models. The student concepts were captivating. Their work should now be exhibited in the building in question and the residents´ impressions should be gathered.

The cooperation with Universidad Belas Artes in São Paulo will not remain a one-time project. Already in the next summer semester, first Brazilian students want to spend a visiting semester in Coburg. Both universities are already working on a contract for a successful partnership.

"Altogether, the study visit was a very impressive but also a demanding experience for everyone, with numerous new impressions of a vast and extremely friendly country," sums up Prof. Helmut Bielenski. Other stops were Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia.

The study visit was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Rainer Markgraf Foundation, Sparkasse Coburg-Lichtenfels, Association of the Bavarian Building Industry, Informationszentrum Beton, FSB company, Würzburg-Lower Franconia Association - Association of German Architects (BDA), German Academic Exchange Service DAAD and Development Association of the Architecture Department - Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts.