Ninth Edition 2023-2024

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Gru.a is an architecture studio based in Rio de Janeiro, run since 2013 by Caio Calafate (1987) and Pedro Varella (1987). Since its formation, the studio has been working on projects on different scales and of different kinds, with a special interest in the intersection between the fields of architecture and the arts. Gru.a’s production is structured on the practices of its partners and collaborators in the fields of teaching, research and design. The members of the studio have delivered lectures and taught in academic institutions in Brazil and abroad, such as the FAU UFRJ – Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and PUC RIO – Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); ENSAM – Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, ENSAPM – Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paris Malaquais (France); Columbia GSAPP – Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (USA); Escuela de Arquitectura y Estudios Urbanos – Universidad Torcuato di Tella (Argentina); Architectural Association (UK), among others.

Gru.a’s production has been recognised through national and international awards and competitions, of which the following stand out: twice first place in the annual Tomie Ohtake Akzonobel Institute Award (São Paulo, 2015 and 2019); three nominations for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize – MCHAP Award from the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, 2016, 2019, 2024), recognised as a highlight in the 2019 MCHAP.EMERGE Award. In the same year the studio was selected among the 10 finalists for the DEBUT Award, by the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2019) for international practices. In 2023 Gru.a won the Di Tella Arquitectura Award for emerging practices (Buenos Aires, 2023).