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Talk on clinker at Veretec 2022
Talks at Veretec
2022-23

Postcard, Brasilia, date unknown c. 1960s
BBC: The Inquiry
BBC World Service 2019

Brasilia, DF Brazil photograph © Joana França 2011
Brasília: Life Beyond Utopia
Brazil Institute, Kings College London 2016

Itapoã, DF Brazil photograph © Joana França 2011
Brasília: Life Beyond Utopia
Architectural Design [April 2016]

McAslan Gallery: Emerging Architects
Two exhibitions for the McAslan Gallery
McAslan Gallery 2016

Edzell Castle, Angus
Edzell Castle: Architectural Treatises in Late 16th Century Scotland
Garden History Society 2014

Palladio
Architecture and the Humanities
Architectural Research Quarterly 2014

Rio: Canal do Mangue Postcard
Urban Planning in Rio 1870-1930: the Construction of Modernity
Brazil Institute, Kings College London 2014

London Tower Block
Review of Remaking London: Design and Regeneration in Urban Culture
Architectural Research Quarterly 2013

Oscar Niemeyer: House in Canoas, Rio de Janeiro
Life's a Beach: Oscar Niemeyer, Landscape and Women
The Rest is Noise Festival
South Bank, London 6 October 2013

Brasilia Tres Poderes
BBC: Last Word
BBC Radio 4 7 & 9 December 2012

Brasilia Tres Poderes
Brasilia: Fictions and Illusions
Brazil Institute, Kings College London 2012

Nolli Plan of Rome
Connected Communities Symposium
University of Dundee 2011

Arup: White Building, St John's College Oxford
Architecture + ESI: an architect's perspective
FESI [The UK Forum for Engineering Structural Integrity] 2011

Booth Poverty Map of London
Review of Mapping London
Architectural Research Quarterly 2010

RIAS: landworkers exhibition
Landworkers
Dundee Contemporary Arts
14-28 May 2009

Antonio Carlos Elias: Epulis Fissuratum
The Studio of Antonio Carlos Elias
Epulis Fissuratum [Brasília 2006]

Thomas Deckker: superquadra penthouse project
Superquadra Penthouse Project
Penthouse Living
[Wiley 2005]

Arquivo Brasilia
Arquivo Brasília
Sala Martins Penna
Teatro Nacional Cláudio Santoro
Brasília
19-20 April 2005

Revisiting Brazil: View of Exhibition
Revisiting Brazil
RIBA Gallery 2
9-30 October 2003

Houston Car Park
Urban Entropies: A Tale of Three Cities
Architectural Design [September 2003]

Guedes Apartment, São Paulo
New Architecture in Brazil
- Photographs by Michael Frantzis

Brazilian Embassy, London
5-6 March 2003

Joaquim Gudes: Kerti House, São Paulo
Natural Spirit (Places to Live 007)
Wallpaper* [January/February 2003]

Wallpaper*: Architects Directory
Architects Directory
Wallpaper* [July/August 2002]

RIBA Journal: Foreign Legion
Foreign LegionRIBA Journal [March 2002]

Le Corbusier: Heidi Weber Pavilion, Zurich photograph © Thomas Deckker 1996
Architects and Technology
The Encyclopaedia of Architectural Technology [London: Wiley 2002]

Mission Concepcion (1755) San Antonio, Texas
Mexican-American Architecture
Mexican-American Encyclopaedia [2002]

W3 Brasilia 1960s Archive Photograph
Brasília
Canberra / Brasília
Canberra Contemporary Art Space [Canberra: CASC 2001]

Oscar Niemeyer: Congresso Naçional Brasília
In the Realm of the Senses
Architectural Design [July 2001]

Thomas Deckker: Magalhães House
Thomas Deckker: Two Projects in Brasília
Architectural Design [Oct 2000]

Degree Unit G: Mexico 1997-98
First International Seminar on the Teaching of the Built Environment [SIEPAC]
University of São Paulo, Brazil
13-15 Sept 2000

Thomas Deckker: The Modern City Revisited
The Modern City Revisited
[London: Routledge 2000]

Thomas Deckker (editor): Issues in Architecture Art & Design
Issues in Architecture Art & Design
vol. 6 no. 1 [University of East London 2000]

Luigi Snozzi: Monte Carasso, Bellinzona photograph © Thomas Deckker 1982
The re-invention of the site
Relating Landscape to Architecture
[London: Routledge 1999]

The Modern City Revisted Conference
The Modern City Revisited
University of East London
27/28 Mar 1999

Luigi Snozzi: Kalman House, Locarno photograph © Thomas Deckker 1982
Monte Carasso: The re-invention of the site
Issues in Architecture Art& Design vol. 5 no. 2 [University of East London 1998]

Donald Judd: Chinati Foundation, Texas
Specific Objects / Specific Sites
Rethinking the Architecture / Landscape Relationship, University of East London,
26-28 Mar 1996

Herzog & deMeuron: Hebelstrasse Apartments, Basle
Herzog & deMeuron
Issues in Architecture Art & Design vol. 3 no. 2 [University of East London 1994]

McAslan Gallery: Urban Transformations in Brazil
McAslan Gallery: Urban Transformations in Brazil
Curator: Thomas Deckker

Brasília: Life Beyond Utopia

McAslan Gallery, London
2016

This exhibition accompanied the publication of a special issue of Architectural Design on sustainable urban planning edited by Hattie Hartman.

Photographs by Joana França

Texts by Thomas Deckker

Aerial View of Brasília, Distrito Federal, 2013
Aerial View of Brasília, Distrito Federal, 2013

Superquadras looking north from the southwestern end of the asa sul [south wing]. The original city was dominated by its road layout, in keeping with contemporary ideals of the private car. The resemblance to the ideal city that formed the centrepiece of the General Motors Futurama pavilion at the New York Worlds Fair 1939, which Lúcio Costa saw while building the Brazilian Pavilion, is clear.
Aerial View of Brasília, Distrito Federal, 2009
Aerial View of Brasília, Distrito Federal, 2009

Superquadras looking north from the Eixo Monumental [Government Axis], approximately halfway along the 13km main axis. The campus of the University of Brasília lies on the near lakeside; on the far side is the Setor Habitacional Individuais Norte [North Lake Residential Sector], private houses based on Ludwig Hilbersheimer's The New Regional Pattern of 1949. The 'New Regional Pattern' was an utopian suburb based on cul-de-sacs and parkways.
Aerial View of Brasília, Distrito Federal, 2013
Aerial View of Brasília, Distrito Federal, 2013

The northern end of the main residential axis, 13 km from the southern end shown in the first photograph. The entrance to the Setor Habitacional Individuais Norte [North Lake Residential Sector] lies across the lake. It is important to recognise that the superquadras here bear only a intentionally superficial resemblance to the original utopian designs of Lúcio Costa, as the contemporary reality of condomínios fechados, or secure gated enclaves, meets the World Heritage status of Costa's plan.
Aerial View of the Eixo Monumental, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of the Eixo Monumental, Distrito Federal, 2011

The western end of the Eixo Monumental [Government Axis], with the Estrada Parque Indústria e Abastecimento [Industry and Warehouse Parkway] at the bottom of the photograph. This settlement in the foreground, Cruzeiro, was one of the first low- income areas of the city, begun in 1958 shortly after construction began on the official city, in a popular style of loteamentos [subdivisions].
Aerial View of Estrada Parque Indústria e Abastecimento, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Estrada Parque Indústria e Abastecimento, Distrito Federal, 2011

The Estrada Parque Indústria e Abastecimento [Industry and Warehouse Parkway] originally formed the the western extremity of Brasília, where the industrial and warehouse sectors were planned. While these sectors still exist they have been enlarged by massive new residential areas. This road links virtually all the satellite cities together, as well as linking them to Brasília, so is very heavily trafficked.
Aerial View of Águas Claras, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Águas Claras, Distrito Federal, 2011

There are still Environmental Protection Areas separating Brasília from the satellite cities, although vestigial in places. The pristine nature of this 'area verde' [green belt] is deceptive, as the official residence of the Governor of the Distrito Federal lies just out of site on the bottom left of the photograph. The destruction of the green belt in Brasília is a warning to its potential destruction in London.
Aerial View of Environmental Protection Area and the Southwest Sector, 2013
Aerial View of Environmental Protection Area and the Southwest Sector, 2013

A view encompassing 4 distinct areas in Brasília, looking across instead of along the main residential axis: in the front, the Área de Proteção Ambiental [green belt], then the Setor Sudoeste [Southwest Sector], a recent development doubling the size of the south wing of the city, then before the lake, the superquadras of the asa sul [south wing], and in the far distance the Setor Habitacional Individuais Sul [South Lake Residential Sector], based on Ludwig Hilbersheimer's The New Regional Pattern of 1949.
Aerial View of the Via Estrutural, Distrito Federal, 2013
Aerial View of the Via Estrutural, Distrito Federal, 2013

The Via Estrutural, or the Estrada Parque Ceilândia [Ceilândia Parkway] is the major road linking the satellite cities of Ceilândia and Taguatinga to the western extremity of Brasília. So great is the flow of traffic that the entire road is one way (into Brasília in the morning, and out in the evening).
Aerial View of the Via Estrutural, Distrito Federal, 2013
Aerial View of the Via Estrutural, Distrito Federal, 2013

The invasion in the foreground, the Vila Estrutural, was regularised in 2004. Vila Estrutural. It is officially part of the Setor Indústria e Abastecimento [Industry and Warehouse Sector]. Invasions generally have no official water, sewage, education or health provision, and fight for regularisation, or recognition by the Government of the Distrito Federal, after construction.
Aerial View of Gated Enclave, Shopping, Distrito Federal, 2013
Aerial View of Gated Enclave, Shopping, Distrito Federal, 2013

The condomínio fechado, or secure gated enclave, is now the most common form of middle-class residential development in the Distrito Federal, in contrast to the open and communitarian city envisaged by Lúcio Costa. This example is located on unregulated land close to ParkShopping, the suburban shopping mall built in 1983 that led to the decline of central shopping areas in Brasília but which has since formed the nucleus of further suburban development.
Aerial View of Núcleo Bandeirante, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Núcleo Bandeirante, Distrito Federal, 2011

Núcleo Bandeirante [Pioneer Settlement] was the first deviation form the official plan for the Distrito Federal [Federal District], originally established as a workers' camp well before the inauguration of the city in 1961. It is now an established suburb.
Aerial View of Taguatinga, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Taguatinga, Distrito Federal, 2011

Taguatinga was the first satellite city, underway within a year of work starting on the official Plano Piloto [Pilot Plan] in 1957. The original utopian architecture, based on migrant worker housing designed by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer for the US Works Progress Administration in 1944, barely survived the period of initial construction and was replaced by subdivisions promoted by the United States Agency for International Development, part of the the anti-communist Alliance for Progress created by President Kennedy in 1961. The most recent expansion is by low-income loteamentos [subdivisions], typical of Brazilian rural cities.
Aerial View of Itapoã, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Itapoã, Distrito Federal, 2011

Vast areas of low-income loteamentos [subdivisions] have sprung up in the Distrito Federal, without employment, transport or services. Itapoã is an irregular settlement 22 kilometres from Brasília in the rural northeastern sector.
Aerial View of Setor Habitacional Buritis, Sobradinho II, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Setor Habitacional Buritis, Sobradinho II, Distrito Federal, 2011

Aerial View of Setor Habitacional Buritis, Sobradinho II, Distrito Federal, 2011 It may be surprising that the official construction of low-income housing is in loteamentos [subdivisions]. Buritis is a new residential sector in Sobradinho II, 19 kilometres from Brasilia in the rural northeastern sector. This residential sector in the popular style of loteamentos [subdivisions] is by the official government agency Companhia de Desenvolvimento Habitacional DF [Residential Development Agency of the Federal District], part of the 'Minha Casa Minha Vida' [My House My Life] programme.
Aerial View of Setor Habitacional Buritis, Sobradinho II, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Setor Habitacional Buritis, Sobradinho II, Distrito Federal, 2011

Many migrants to the Distrito Federal are too poor for the official the 'Minha Casa Minha Vida' [My House My Life] programme built and financed by the official government agency Companhia de Desenvolvimento Habitacional DF [Residential Development Agency of the Federal District]. This invasion is in an Área de Proteção Ambiental [green belt] in Sobradinho II, 19 kilometres from Brasilia in the rural northeastern sector.
Aerial View of Invasion, Vila Rabêlo, Distrito Federal, 2011
Aerial View of Invasion, Vila Rabêlo, Distrito Federal, 2011

The form of the invasion mirrors that of the favelas in Rio, built into the hillsides which circumscribe the beautiful valley in which Brasília is located. This invasion is virtually a suburb of the satellite city Sobradinha, 19 kilometres from Brasilia in the rural northeastern sector.