Five years after first taking part in Cersaie in 2013, Brazilian architect Carla Juaçaba is returning to the show as part of the “building dwelling thinking” cultural programme for a conference introduced by architecture historian Francesco Dal Co to be held at 4:00 pm on Wednesday 26 September in the Architecture Gallery.

Now in its tenth edition, the “building dwelling thinking” cultural programme will once again host a wide range of events, including conferences given by internationally acclaimed architects and designers in the Architecture Gallery.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, Carla Juaçaba started up her own practice in 2000. In 2013 she won the inaugural international ArcVision Women and Architecture prize. Her practice is currently involved in public and private projects for housing and cultural programmes. She has a special interest in the poetry and expressive potential of tectonics and explores the concept of place in terms of cultural continuity and phenomenological perception. She has collaborated with architect Gisela Magalhaesper on a project on Brazilian indigenous arts and historical museums and with architect Mario Fraga on the Casa Atelier project and with filmmaker Bia Lessa for the acclaimed Pavilion Humanidade 2012 during Rio+20.

Together with another nine international architects including Norman Foster and Eduardo Souto de Moura, Carla Juaçaba recently took part in Vatican Chapels, the pavilion curated by Francesco Dal Co on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the Venetian lagoon on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Organised during the first participation of the Holy See in the Venice Architecture Biennale, it consisted of 10 different chapels each designed by a different architect and inspired by the Skogskapellet, the Woodland Chapel built by Gunnar Asplund in Stockholm Cemetery in 1920.

Also in Venice, her work can also be admired at this year’s Architecture Biennale curated by Grafton Architects, where her totemic concrete sculptures called Ballast create pleasant places for relaxation while at the same time underscoring the weight and mass of the material itself.

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