ADA PENNA

Architecture & Urbanism
Architect and urbanist.
PhD candidate at the Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh.

About
Education
Experience
Awards

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Research

Beyond Brutalism
Invisible Voids
BH On Rails

Design

MS Justice Court
Vale do Sereno
Xisto Guerra Bus Station
Vintém Park
Saudade Square
Lapinha Studio
Laender House
National Museum
Tiradentes House
Carmo Coffes
Ateliê Wäls






adapenna@gmail.com
About




Ada A. Penna Souza-McMurtrie
adapenna@gmail.com

I am an architect and urban planner from Brazil, pursuing my PhD at the Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. I bring together design, research and teaching, with each part informing the others. The design studio, inside or outside academia, is where you will often find me.

My research focuses on Brazil’s mid-twentieth-century modern architecture. During this period, design and ethics walked hand in hand. Architecture became a tool for resistance and a way to rethink society. Architects approached design as a poetics of constructive reasoning, combining technical expertise with a strong sense of place. My research looks beyond the common association of this Brazilian movement with Anglo-European Brutalism, which erases its unique tectonic culture and historical context.