AIA International Brazil - Cassina Innovation House
image credit: Joana França
Event Description
Cassina Innovation House was a winner at the 2022 AsBEA Saint Gobain Awards in the Institutional Project category. Built in 1896 and in ruins since 1960, the degraded facades taken over by vegetation created a powerful and important image to be addressed. The beauty of the ruin's imperfection raises curiosity and questions, motivating reflections on the past and the action of time and man in the city and on the built heritage in general.
CES: Estimated 1 LU for AIA Members
Speaker
Laurent Troost, Principal, Laurent Troost Architectures
Moderator: Gustavo Ribeiro, At-Large Director and Brazil Country Representative, AIA International; Founder, Sito Arquitetura
photo credit: Tom Daly
Laurent Troost is a Belgian architect based in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. He holds a Masters in Architecture and Urbanism from ISAIVH in Brussels (2001) and a postgraduate degree in Geography and Cities from Escola da Cidade, São Paulo (2011). His firm Laurent Troost Architectures has stood out lately in several international competitions and awards, such as the Premio Oscar Niemeyer, AsBEA Saint Gobain Awards, Dezeen Award, the Architecture Masterprize and the IAI Most Creativity Award. In addition to his practice, Laurent was also Director of Urban Planning for the Municipality of Manaus from 2013 to 2020 and has been a consultant for the World Bank Group ever since.
Moderator: Born in Curitiba, Brazil, Gustavo Ribeiro obtained his Architecture and Urban Design bachelor degree from the Federal University of Minas Gerais State – UFMG in 1992. He founded Sito Arquitetura in 1994, after winning the "National Competition for the Usiminas Cultural Center at Ipatinga, MG Brazil”, from which a book was later published in 1996. This significant prize created an excellent opportunity for him to achieve a rich experience at an early career stage, leading to 24 years of generalist practice.
He has won many other noticeable prizes throughout his career, namely Milton Campos Square, Betim MG; Belo Horizonte Centennial Landmark; COHAB headquarters, Belo Horizonte, MG; Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora Community Center.
At Sito Arquitetura he is the head of design for projects of various scales and typologies and has been diligently working on Single Family, Multi Family, Housing, Commercial, Hospitality, Retail, Mixed-use and Urban Development projects in Brazil and Africa.
He is currently a board member of CAU/MG for the 2021-2023 term, having also served the 2018-2020 term; Board member of AsBEA MG, serving as Director from 2010 to 2018; BIM committee member of AsBEA, conducting the BIM Workgroup from 2015 to 2016; In 1999 he took a graduate specialization course in Real Estate Development at FUMEC University in Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais Brazil, increasing his knowledge in this area. Since then, he has started a real estate development initiative, researching, planning and delivering projects. He truly believes that an insightful architect vision in this industry can greatly improve the way people relate to their environment.
