Major firms make their presence felt at the São Paulo Architecture Biennial

From September 18 to October 19, 2025, the Oca, in Ibirapuera Park, will host the 14th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo (BIAsp), one of the main architecture and urbanism events in the country. With the participation of architects and projects from different countries, the Biennial this year takes place under the theme "Extremes", proposing reflections on contrasts and contemporary urgencies, such as extreme climate events and the limits of human life. The main question is: what is the role of architecture in reversing this scenario? Solutions may be based on science and technology or on traditional knowledge of peoples. Starting from this essential questioning for our future on the planet, renowned architecture firms present their proposals during the exhibition. Below we show a selection of the main highlights. Check it out and plan your visit! 14th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo – BIAsp Visitation period: September 18 to October 19, 2025 Location: Oca – Ibirapuera Park Address: Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n – Gate 2, Moema, São Paulo Free entry

Studio Arthur Casas

During the 14th Architecture Biennial, Studio Arthur Casas, in collaboration with the Arthur Casas Institute of Architecture and Innovation (IACAI), presents a timeline that systematizes architectural and urban projects designed to address the challenges posed by climate change on different scales. The selected projects encompass a diversity of geographic and climatic contexts, from interventions in dense urban environments, such as the Ícaro Building in Curitiba, to initiatives in the Legal Amazon, such as the Moitará Exchange Center, located in the Xingu Indigenous Park, and the MuCA in Belterra (PA). These works exemplify an architectural approach that prioritizes integration with the bioclimatic and cultural specificities of each locality, promoting solutions that articulate technological innovation and environmental responsibility.

Aflalo/Gasperini Architects

The office Aflalo/Gasperini Architects presents at the Architecture Biennial two projects aligned with the company's commitment to innovation and sustainability. The Salma Tower, a corporate building on Avenida Faria Lima in São Paulo, has 16 floors and incorporates vertical spiral forests — with forests of 110 m² on each floor, totaling 1,760 m² of vegetation — creating an internal microclimate that enhances the thermal and acoustic comfort of the projects. The project recently received LEED Platinum certification and houses a monumental installation by Damien Hirst in the lobby, interacting with art and culture in the daily life of the city. The Brisas Avaré Residential, on the shores of the Jurumirim reservoir in the interior of São Paulo, is one of the first condominiums in the country to adopt MLC (glued laminated timber) on a large scale for common areas such as boat hangar, gym, restaurant, spa, and accommodation. In total, there are more than 6 thousand m² constructed, the result of the office's partnership with ITA Engenharia.

Guá Arquitetura

The miriti pavilion — conceived by the architecture office Guá Arquitetura in partnership with the Atelier Miriti Sustainability of master Joel Cordeiro — presents miriti as a social technology and cutting-edge material. Originating from the Amazonian palm Mauritia flexuosa, the material is part of the culture of the city of Abaetetuba, in Pará, where miriti handicrafts support families and mobilize a symbolic repertoire. In this proposal, this ancestral knowledge meets contemporary engineering and reveals a material capable of reconfiguring the vocabulary of 21st-century architecture. According to the architects, research indicates that the petiole of the miriti tree is about six times lighter than common wood, as well as being durable and resistant. When properly processed, the performance exceeds that of common MDF.

FGMF Architects

In Iapevi, just 30 minutes from the capital of São Paulo, a land of more than 1 million m² of Atlantic Forest houses the Itaqui District — the first green district of innovation and technology in Brazil and headquarters of the Itaqui Institute, an educational and research front focused on innovation and sustainability. This mission is directly related to the theme of the 14th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo. This premise was, in fact, the basis for the project developed by the office FGMF Architects for the construction of two new buildings in Itaqui presented at the Biennial. There are two distinct cores: the educational one, formed by suspended blocks that evoke the canopies of trees and create the feeling of walking under them, and the hospitality core, named Seed, with semi-buried buildings that integrate with the irregular topography, making the terrain an essential part of the experience. The proposal developed by FGMF Architects originates from a challenging territory, with uneven topography marked by variations in height. However, instead of leveling the ground, the architects' proposal is to take advantage of the irregularity and fit the new buildings into areas without native vegetation, respecting the forest and allowing the forest itself to recover and expand its spaces.

Architects Office (AO)

[caption id="attachment_209341" align="alignnone" width="3024"][/caption> The office Architects Office (AO) exhibits at the Architecture Biennial the Forest Gens, a critical cartography project that reveals the extent of anthropogenic transformations in the Amazônia. Through advanced mapping techniques in the Amazon context, the initiative makes visible the multiple layers that compose the region. From the footprint of current societies to territorial manipulations dating back centuries, the mapping presents the Amazon as a complex landscape shaped by humans, rather than a homogeneous and untouched forest. In addition, the project portrays the Amazonian territory at multiple scales, highlighting how the interaction between geography and human interventions — past and present — allows for the development of hypotheses about the occupation of the region.

UNA Barbara and Valentim

[caption id="attachment_209340" align="alignnone" width="2000"][/caption> The office UNA Barbara and Valentim participates in the Biennial with the Modular Bahia, the first residence built using the Modular BV construction system, developed with engineered wood from reforestation. The project combines industrialization, low environmental impact, and adaptation to the humid tropical climate, pointing to new ways of living. Located in Costa do Cacau, in the southern Bahian coast, the Modular Bahia is situated between the river and the sea, amid a coconut grove, close to an important tropical forest reserve. In light of climate change and the construction industry's impact on carbon emissions, the system was developed to combine the advantages of an industrialized product with the use of renewable raw materials.

Königsberger Vannucchi

[caption id="attachment_209263" align="alignnone" width="4780"][/caption> Königsberger Vannucchi presents the urban project of the Eixo Platina and the Platina 220 building, which exemplify how architecture can tackle central issues of the city: creating new centralities that bring together housing, work, and services, reducing daily commutes and adopting construction solutions aimed at energy efficiency and environmental comfort. In the general exhibition, the urban project of the Eixo Platina will be presented, responsible for reconfiguring Tatuapé as a new urban centrality, and the Platina 220 building, which at 172 meters tall and 49 floors combines stores, hotel, residential units, commercial offices, and corporate slabs in a single tower. This diverse program required precise organization of vertical circulation flows, presented in a diagram that integrates the exhibition.

Lins Arquitetos

The office Lins Arquitetos Associados, led by siblings Cíntia and George Lins in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, was invited by the curatorship of the 14th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo to present their work in three areas: the ITA Ceará campus, the Multifunctional Block of Unileão, and a pavilion conceived in partnership with the office Rede Arquitetos. For Lins, the invitation represents the recognition of a practice that has always arisen from extremes, just like the theme of this Biennial edition. Since its foundation, the office has operated in Cariri, a region of intense heat and low humidity, where designing requires solutions for thermal comfort, energy efficiency, and careful use of local resources.