With her daughter moving abroad, the client — a publicist — decided to begin a new chapter in a smaller, more practical apartment aligned with her daily routine. She left behind an old 200m² property and moved to a new 84m² home in Gávea, in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone. The challenge for Bric Arquitetura was to optimize every square meter with purpose — and elegance.

A living classroom where 74 children, 125 future educators, and a coastal forest learn from one another, the Fulmer Family Center for Childhood Studies demonstrates how biophilic, mass-timber design can embody the pedagogical principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach while achieving Step Code 4 performance.

Located along Chaussée de Louvain in Brussels, the project is embedded in a heterogeneous urban fabric.

A project can be drawn in broad strokes, but it's built in details. Simple as it may seem, a staircase involves a significant degree of engineering. Some are noticeably more tiring, or more difficult to climb and descend. To address this, in the 17th century, architect François Blondel proposed a formula to ensure the ideal proportion between riser and tread, an equation that, when respected, offers a comfortable path. But there's another equally decisive factor: all steps must be identical. This may sound trivial and logical, yet executing anything with precision is always a construction challenge. Our bodies quickly adapt to the dimensions of the steps, and any variation (even minimal) can lead to repeated stumbles or missteps. A seemingly insignificant detail, when poorly resolved, can compromise the well-being and safety of an entire building.