Community

Existential Pilgrimage Space – The Meditation Chapel is less a place for traditional worship within an urban community and more a sanctuary for solitary individuals to savor their existence before the divine in nature, essentially a retreat from the city. It originated from the request for a small prayer space for these pilgrims. Hence, rather than mimicking the form of minimalistic architecture, which aims to strip everything down, the architect opted for functional simplicity, which is faithful to the role of a vessel that can hold the visitor’s existence.

Designed to occupy a corner lot in a neighborhood in Juazeiro, Bahia, the space houses the new headquarters of the “Sopão da Esperança” (Soup of Hope), a volunteer initiative promoted by Mrs. Nádia Ribeiro, which distributes food to the community. Built from scratch, the project was developed for the segment “Fazendo o bem, sem olhar a quem” on the Domingão com Huck program, broadcasted by Rede Globo. The charitable activity, started during the Covid-19 pandemic, relies on food donations. The initiative takes place once a week, serving approximately 600 people who receive soups and basic food baskets.

This project is situated within a rapidly growing neighborhood in Mississauga, a suburban city west of Toronto, Canada. It converts a 50-acre agricultural field into a richly textured parkland with a 75,000 sf Community Centre as its focus. The park connects to an existing multi-use trail system, making it a new destination in the network.

The essence of the project lies in the transformation of the Old Glassworks and its neighboring public spaces, guided by the vision of creating a vibrant hub for local culture. It transcends mere physical alterations, as its goal is to revitalize the very spirit of Ptuj’s historic old town, ensuring its enduring relevance as a cultural focal point.

With the aim of revitalizing the public life of Jalpa de Méndez, Tabasco, an urban master plan was designed for SEDATU, which renovated three of the city’s most representative public spaces: the High-Performance Sports Center, the Community Development Center (CDC), and the Recreational Park “El Campestre”.

Immersed in an informal context and located near the municipal landfill of Guatemala City, a project with human character promoted by the organization Planting Seeds International for the transformation of the environment stands up, a place for families in the community conceived as a dignified space to be and grow.

The project is located next to Chengde Park and Bijiang Elementary School in the ancient village of Bijiang, Beijiao Town, Shunde. The project site is an abandoned pawnshop storage building from the late Qing Dynasty, which has been unused for nearly 20 years. We initiated the Common Space with young friends from different industries, and after receiving support from the fund, we rented the pawnshop in the hope that it would become a space that is open and able to host different community activities in the future.