From the Classroom to the Courtyard: How Brazilian Universities Are Rethinking the Learning Space

In 1961, when architects Vilanova Artigas and Carlos Cascaldi first conceptualized the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP), they established a radical architectural paradigm that would echo through generations of Brazilian campus design. Their vision transformed the academic building into a continuous, fluid territory articulated by sweeping ramps, expansive internal courtyards, and open structural spans. In this revolutionary layout, the experience of learning explicitly extended far beyond the traditional, enclosed four walls of the classroom, inviting students into a shared intellectual ecosystem.

This forward-thinking concept emerged during a pivotal moment of transformation in Brazilian higher education. Over the subsequent decades, the nation’s higher education system would undergo a massive demographic shift, expanding from serving a relatively restricted, elite audience to reaching a vastly broader and more culturally diverse population. Historical data illustrates the sheer scale of this evolution: while Brazil recorded approximately 226,218 undergraduate enrollments in 1960, that number skyrocketed over the years, approaching nearly 10 million students by 2023.

This unprecedented surge in student population fundamentally transformed not only the demographics of the classroom but also the physical and social relationship between the university and the surrounding city. Shaped by the coexistence of an extensive public university network and a highly active private sector—both playing equally decisive roles in expanding higher education accessibility—the contemporary Brazilian educational landscape has produced a rich mosaic of institutional models, physical scales, and forms of spatial occupation.

Within this modern context, the traditional campus has largely ceased to be merely a secluded physical support system for an isolated academic institution. Instead, campuses across the country increasingly function as vital urban infrastructure. They concentrate intellectual and human flows while actively providing generous, porous spaces for social interaction, public life, and civic engagement. As contemporary architects grapple with the demands of modern pedagogy, the pioneering legacy of FAU-USP remains remarkably relevant—not necessarily as a rigid formal model to be mechanically replicated, but as a fundamental philosophy of understanding the university through its seamless, dynamic relationship with the urban fabric.

The architectural response to this massive expansion is visible across diverse regions of Brazil, where contemporary practices are reinterpreting open-air learning. Projects such as the Rudolf Steiner University, designed by Biselli Katchborian Arquitetos, demonstrate how modern institutional architecture continues to prioritize permeability and natural light, fostering environments where circulation areas double as informal seminar spaces. Similarly, the Unileão Educational Pavilions and the associated Legal Practice Center, realized by Lins Arquitetos Associados, utilize shaded courtyards and modular layouts to address regional climate needs while encouraging horizontal communication among students and faculty.

Other urban interventions, such as the Maria Antônia University Centre designed by UNA Arquitetos, and the Teaching and Faculty Unit developed by the collaborative team of CEPLAN and CoGa Arquitetura, further highlight how contemporary design strategies negotiate tight urban footprints. By weaving open voids, transitional porticos, and elevated walkways into the built environment, these institutions actively blur the boundaries between interior study zones and exterior public life.

Ultimately, as contemporary Brazilian universities continue to accommodate millions of learners, the architectural conversation has moved past mere capacity building. By looking back to the foundational insights of mid-century modernism while addressing the complex realities of the twenty-first-century city, architects and educators are redefining the campus as an open territory where architecture itself becomes an active participant in the educational process.