Brasília at a Domestic Scale | Debaixo do Bloco

The satellite cities developed spontaneously, in response to urgent demands. Unlike the Plano Piloto, they did not originate from a structured design and, for this reason, have not yet consolidated a clearly defined architectural language. This path inevitably leads us back to Brasília when addressing the Federal District.

More than an urban project, Brasília has become a collective memory. Its presence extends beyond the Plano Piloto and permeates everyday life in the Federal District, at work, at school and in daily commutes. A spatial repertoire that endures, almost quietly, within the local culture.

It is from this memory that the project is constructed. Set within the Bienal Pavilion, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the space does not seek to represent the city, but to understand what shapes its atmosphere.The monumentality of public buildings, palaces, pilotis and voids is brought into a domestic scale. Elements such as the green carpet, inspired both by Brasília’s interiors and by Niemeyer’s French Communist Party Headquarters in Paris, cover the space as a continuous plane. Curved surfaces organise the environment without touching the ceiling, creating a subtle zoning. Where these surfaces meet the floor and ceiling, they evoke the passages that connect the annexes to the ministries along the Esplanade, recalling a personal memory from the architect’s childhood visits to his mother’s workplace.

There are no interiors in the conventional sense. The project is conceived as interior architecture, where materiality, light and proportion define the experience. The precast concrete of the counters appears in a restrained and precise manner, evoking the rapid construction of the capital, a condition that also resonates with the temporary nature of a biennial exhibition. The absence of ornament reinforces a quieter reading of the space, suggesting that architecture itself can shape the interior.

The relationship with the existing building is direct. The façade, with window frames designed by Niemeyer, recalls Brasília’s residential buildings, while the garden by Otávio Augusto Teixeira Mendes is incorporated as an extension of the space. The pilotis column is intentionally highlighted and, as it crosses the interior, shifts from something to be concealed to an element of structural and spatial presence.

The furniture, featuring pieces by Jorge Zalszupin, Joaquim Tenreiro and Sergio Rodrigues, introduces a historical layer that both complements and contrasts with the space, recalling the fertile period of Brazilian modernism. The Dominici lighting fixtures reinforce the continuity of this modern vocabulary. The tapestry by Tarsila do Amaral introduces the dimension of the applied arts, fundamental to the construction of Brazil’s modern imagination. Selected elements also allude to international mid-century design, in dialogue with figures such as George Nelson and Charles Eames.

The space thus proposes a meeting between architecture and memory.
An attempt to translate, at a domestic scale, the experience of being in Brasília.