Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 138

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I like and agree with this tweet : "You can have bad urbanism with good architecture, and good urbanism with bad architecture." The two provided examples of this are (1) Brasilia and (2) what appears to be some random little street in Japan.

Brasilia is the capital of Brazil. It's a masterplanned city designed by Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in the 1950s. And it was all part of a plan to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location in the middle of the country.

The result is some incredible architecture by Oscar Niemeyer that, for me, is emblematic of the country. Brazil was one of the first countries outside of Europe to adopt modern architecture and it's precisely for this reason that Brasilia is high on my list of places to visit. (Rio is also one of my favorite cities.)

But whenever I tell a Brazilian that I want to visit the city, the usual response is, “Why?” I then have to explain that it’s because of Niemeyer and the architecture, and then they say, “Oh, okay, that makes sense. But besides the architecture, there isn’t much else to see or do there.”

Part of the reason for this could be because the city has objectively bad urbanism. When you look at it in plan view, the layout of the city resembles a plane or bird in flight, and that is, I guess, symbolically cool when you view it on Google Maps. But on the ground, cities are not at their best when they're designed around abstract symbols.

They're at their best when they're designed around people. And this is what example number two does well. The architecture is ugly and nondescript, but the street is narrow, the road is shared, and the buildings contain a mix of fine-grained uses.

It's a dead simple approach , but it works — really well. It's good urbanism.

Cover photo by Thandy Yung on Unsplash

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) just announced its 2025 Architecture Award winners . This is a program that celebrate the best contemporary architecture in the US, spanning all scales and budgets.

Firstly, I'm obligated to share that Studio Gang won an award for its Kresge College Expansion at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This is a beautiful project consisting of 4 new mass-timber buildings — three residential halls and an academic center — in the middle of a redwood forest in northern California.

But since we talk a lot about housing on this blog, I also wanted to highlight two projects by Brooks + Scarpa. The first is 11NOHO in North Hollywood, CA. This is a 5-storey apartment consisting of 60 suites, 12 of which are affordable (which allowed for a density bonus).

The second is the Rose Mixed-Use Apartments in Venice, CA. This one is a 4-storey apartment and is 100% affordable. I'd like to know how they got the pro forma to work, but regardless, it's proof that Europe doesn't have a monopoly on beautiful social housing projects.

What I really wanted to point out, though, are the projects' courtyards. Southern California has a rich history of courtyard buildings and these two projects offer a contemporary interpretation of this tradition. Both include an elevated courtyard and both have found a way to maintain a connection to the street.

What I like about this approach is that it's simultaneously extroverted (there's a connection to the broader urban context) and introverted (residents get a semi-private amenity).

I think this duality can be particularly helpful when you're designing and developing in a context that maybe isn't the most conducive to intimate urban spaces. It allows you to create your own new ground plane, while not turning your back on the city.

Coincidentally, it also happens to be one of the design moves that Globizen put forward in a recent submission to Salt Lake City for the redevelopment of a full city block in the Granary District.

Photos from Brooks + Scarpa

The Azorean adventure is over. But it wouldn't be a trip to Europe without some sort of post about street dimensions.

So here's a primary retail street in downtown Ponta Delgada — 6.7m from building face to building face, or about the size of a standard two-way drive aisle in Toronto.

And here's the narrowest street/lane that I came across on the island. I couldn't find a street name, but it did have utility meters on it , and it was about the size of a residential building corridor.

We also stumbled upon quite the street party in this same area. There's a lot happening in this photo.

I did also manage to find a memory card reader for my camera at a Continente (supermarket) along the way. So make sure you're following Globizen's Instagram page .

Regularly scheduled programming will resume tomorrow.