Articles by Romullo Baratto

“What characterizes and gives meaning to Brasilia is a game of three scales… the residential or everyday scale… the so-called monumental scale, in which man acquires a collective dimension; the urbanistic expression of a new concept of nobility… Finally the gregarious scale, in which dimensions and space are deliberately reduced and concentrated in order to create a climate conducive to grouping… We can also add another fourth scale, the bucolic scale of open areas intended for lakeside retreats or weekends in the countryside.” – Lucio Costa in an interview with Jornal do Brasil, November 8, 1961.

You’ve probably used or heard of the app Shazam, used by millions of people to identify songs and song lyrics. A team of researchers from Cirad, IRA, Inria / IRD and Tela Botanica Network – had the idea of developing a similar application, but instead of identifying songs, the application identifies plant species.

The representation of architecture is important in the absence of tangible space. Throughout a lifetime, even the most devoted, well-travelled design enthusiast will experience only a small percentage of architectural works with their own eyes. Consider that we exist in only one era of architectural history, and the percentage reduces even further. Many architectural works go unbuilt, and the buildings we experience in person amount to a grain of sand in a vast desert.

Technology giant Google, through the Google Arts & Culture project, is offering a different experience in terms of culture. In addition to providing thousands of online exhibits, the project offers the possibility to explore more than 2,500 museums through a feature very similar to Google Street View. Users can virtually visit museums all over the world, the project offers 360° views of places that can often be inaccessible due to financial costs or distance.