Paulo Tavares

Paulo Tavares, an architect, educator and researcher, combines architectural practice with curating exhibitions, visual and written production and advocacy. With a multidisciplinary perspective combining theory, fieldwork, and archive research, his projects have been featured in international research and publications, including Oslo Architecture Triennale, Istanbul Design Biennial, and the São Paulo Biennial. He co-curated the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2019, and was part of the advisory curatorial board of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial (2023). Terra, a project he co-curated with Gabriela de Matos, was awarded the Golden Lion for best national participation at the 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and he was also recognised by ArchDaily as one of the Best New Practices that year.

Tavares has carried out extensive research on colonial violence in Brazil; in this area, he has recently published Des-Habitat (2019), Derechos no humanos y otros ensayos acerca de la arquitectura del bosque (Non-human Rights and Other Essays about Rainforest Architecture, Bartlebooth, 2022) and La naturaleza política de la selva (The Political Nature of the Rainforest, Caja Negra, 2024), among others. Tavares is a member of the research group Forensic Architecture and also heads autonoma, an urban research agency that uses design tools for justice and socio-spatial and environmental reparation. He currently teaches at the University of Brasilia after previously holding teaching posts at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, Quito, and the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London.