Oscillating between powerlessness and megalomania, architects and urban planners have long sought to design entire habitats, civilizations and even the planet. However, in the current climate of geopolitical insecurities and revisions of the rule of law, occurring against the backdrop of unprecedented environmental changes, design professionals acknowledge once again the vulnerability of their field. Everyday Matters: Contemporary Approaches to Architecture engages with the way architects have shifted their focus to the quotidian realm, as they are confronted with the challenges of an uncertain future, combined with the expectations of new automation technologies. From the consideration of banal objects and their stories, the use of basic resources, the concern with daily routines and rote maintenance protocols, the book chronicles how the everyday has influenced both practical and theoretical domains of architecture and urbanism by triggering a new ethic and aesthetic of humbleness. Rather than evidence of inaction or a lack of will, this approach is claimed by architects to make design relevant for everyone as a shared concern. Featuring contributions by designers, architectural historians and theoreticians, as well as by scholars from other disciplinary fields such as anthropology, sociology of science and technology, and cultural geography, this book is a spin-off from the research culminating in Todo dia/Everyday, the 12th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo (September–December 2019).

Vanessa Grossman is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). She is an architect, a historian and a curator whose research focuses on architecture’s intersections with ideology, power, housing and governance, with a special focus on global practices in Cold War era Europe and Latin America. Grossman has published a number of books, and her work has also appeared in edited volumes, encyclopedias and journals worldwide. Among her forthcoming books is A Concrete Alliance: Communism and Modern Architecture in Postwar France, with Yale University Press. She was co-curator of Todo dia/Everyday, the 12th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo (2019), and Une architecture de l’engagement: L’AUA (1960–1985) at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris (2015-2016). She was also the assistant curator of La modernité, promesse ou menace ?, the French Pavilion at the 14th Venice International Architecture Biennale (2014), which received a special mention from the jury. Prior to TU Delft, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. She has taught at the University of Miami, Princeton University, and the National School of Architecture of Versailles. Grossman holds a diploma in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of São Paulo, a master’s degree in History of Architecture from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and a PhD in History and Theory of Architecture from Princeton University. She is the recipient of the 2015 Carter Manny Award for doctoral dissertation writing from the Graham Foundation.

Ciro Miguel is an architect, visual artist, and photographer based in Zurich and São Paulo. He is currently a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zurich, researching alternative narratives of modernity through photojournalism. He co-curated Todo dia/Everyday, the 12th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo (2019). Miguel has taught architectural design at the chairs of Angelo Bucci (2013) and Marc Angélil (2014-2019), focusing on collective spaces, inclusiveness, tectonics and the everyday. As a practitioner, he was a partner at Angelo Bucci/ SPBR arquitetos (2003–07, 2010–13) where he participated in many recognized projects as the Mediateca PUC Rio (Silver medal Holcim Awards 2008), Weekend House (Mies Crown Hall America’s Prize - Finalist 2014), and the urban proposal A New MAM which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2016). From 2008-2010, he was an architectural designer at Bernard Tschumi Architects in New York. As a photographer, Miguel contributed to the show Access for All: São Paulo’s Architectural Infrastructures, curated by Daniel Talesnik at the Architekturmuseum der TUM in der Pinakothek der Moderne (2019). As a visual artist, Miguel exhibited in many galleries in Brazil and Europe, like Studio-X (Rio de Janeiro), Pavillon de l’Arsenal (Paris), CAMPO (Rome) and Itaú Cultural (São Paulo). He holds a professional diploma in architecture and urbanism from the University of São Paulo FAU USP (2005) and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation GSAPP (2008).