Web Extra: A Look at the Firmeza Foundation

One of the Firmeza Foundation's recent projects—a block of buildings in RIo's Santa Marta community were transformed. Image courtesy Firmeza Foundation.

If you read the print edition of FORM, you’ll definitely remember Michael Webb’s fascinating story Color and the City, investigating the role that color does or doesn’t play in today’s urban fabric. To illustrate the article, we included an image from the Firmeza Foundation of a Brazilian favela the group had painted.

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Looking Back: A Conversation with Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer's iconic Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói. FORMmag remembers the architect. Photo by Rodrigo_Soldon on Flickr.

Over the years, FORM has brought you thought-provoking interviews with some of the world’s leading architects and designers. They’ve discussed and assessed their work, their legacies, and the direction of their professions. As part of an ongoing, Web-only feature, we’ll be bringing you some of the most notable conversations from our archives. To kick off the series, we’re sharing an interview with the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer that appeared in one of our early issues—May/June 2001. In the Q-and-A, conducted by the architect, critic and architectural historian Roberto Segre, Niemeyer, who died in December at the age of 104, reflects on his work, the design of cities, and the state of architecture in Brazil. As Brazil is about it take the world stage for two major sporting events (the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games), his words are especially thought provoking.

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Brazilian Architect Guilherme Torres Designs "JET" Table

Guilherme Torres of Brazil recently designed this futuristic table, called "JET." Made from a metallic core and MDF boards, the table was inspired by a plastering float, an object used in construction to level surfaces. The architect chose bright red and yellow for the tables following childhood memories of the Jetsons' bright and sleek furniture.