The Groundwork film series takes a critical look at how architects from different geographies—namely Xu Tiantian in China, bplus.xyz (b+) in Germany, and Carla Juaçaba in Brazil—engage with the environments and the communities during preliminary project phases. The final film in production follows the architect Carla Juaçaba as she creates a series of minimal support structures to serve as a museum and training facility for workers in a coffee field in Minas Gerais, one of the key producing regions in Brazil. Overall, the series reveals the doubts, questions, and learnings of architects in the field, while at the same time amplifies the voices of local communities that do not usually have a large platform for expression despite their frontline position in the face of climate change and the administration of their territories. Rather than pretending to offer universal solutions to a crisis whose effects are wide-ranging, diverse and profound, Groundwork shows alternative methods of engagement that pave the way for new architectural approaches and ways of considering the existing conditions of a place—culturally, ecologically, politically and more.

Since 2000, Carla Juaçaba has led an independent architecture and research practice in Rio de Janeiro, working on both cultural and private projects. Her early work includes notable projects like the Atelier House and the Santa Teresa House, along with exhibition designs. In 2012, she collaborated with Bia Lessa on the Pavilion Humanidade for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Juaçaba is active in academia, lecturing at institutions such as Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and leading workshops at Università Iuav di Venezia(IUAV-Venezia). She has served on juries for Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura y Urbanismo and the Simon Architecture Prize. Juaçaba has won numerous awards, including the ArcVision Women and Architecture Prize in 2013 and the AREA Architectural Review Emerging Architecture Award in 2018. She was featured in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, and contributed to the Vatican Chapels, now part of Italy's national heritage. Based in Paris, she teaches at the Mendrisio Accademia since 2019, was appointed full professor in 2023, and is pursuing a PhD at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM-UPM) in Madrid. Her work, including contributions to Hans Ulrich Obrist: Brazilian Interviews, Volume 2 (Charta, 2010) and exhibitions like Openhouse Geneve, reflects a commitment to context-driven design and continues to influence both architecture and academia.

DnA_Design and Architecture is an interdisciplinary practice focused on the physical and social aspects of contemporary living. Their projects start with research and dialogue on context and program, considered the core elements of their design approach. The firm’s founder Xu Tiantian was born in Fujian in 1975, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University of Beijing and a master’s of architecture in urban design from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. After working with OMA, she founded DnA_Design and Architecture in Beijing. Xu has received several awards, including the WA China Architecture Award and the 2023 Holcim Awards Gold for Asia Pacific for her work on Fujian Tulou. As a professor at Tsinghua University, Xu's innovative "architectural acupuncture" approach has been recognized globally, including by UN-Habitat. Under her leadership, DnA blends traditional wisdom with modern design, contributing significantly to sustainable and context-sensitive architecture.

b+ is a collaborative architecture practice based in Berlin and led by Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Jonas Janke, and Roberta Jurčić. The firm is renowned for its innovative approach to adaptive reuse, using existing structures and regulations as tools to challenge architectural norms. The firm's partners each bring unique expertise: Brandlhuber’s work includes notable projects like Brunnenstrasse 9, Antivilla, and St. Agnes, and he has explored architectural politics through films like Legislating Architecture and Architecting after Politics. In 2017, he helped establish station+ at ETH Zurich, collaborating on 2038—The New Serenity for the Venice Biennale; Grawert bridges theory and practice, focusing on the sociopolitical aspects of architecture and teaching at ETH Zurich; Janke, with a background in architectural draftsmanship, contributes to new materials and adaptive reuse; and Jurčić translates theoretical concepts into ecological architecture and has worked with alternative media. b+’s team is dedicated to sustainable and innovative design, influencing architectural discourse and shaping functional, thought-provoking spaces.

Francesco Garruti is associate director of programs at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). A curator, editor, and writer, he uses art and architecture to activate cross-disciplinary research. He developed the CCA exhibition and research projects The Things Around Us: 51N4E and Rural Urban Framework (2020–21), Our Happy Life: Architecture and Well-Being in the Age of Emotional Capitalism (2019), and Out of the Box: Gordon Matta-Clark (2019–21). He was formerly CCA Emerging Curator (2013–14), in which role he developed Misleading Innocence, a curatorial and editorial investigation of the relations among architecture, technology and politics. In the last year, Garruti has helped shape the CCA in taking part in this new form of curatorial tool at the CCA—film. Garruti is the project ideator of Groundwork and he manages the research and curatorial work around the project in addition to codirecting the film with Joshua Frank.

Joshua Frank is a filmmaker and musician living and working between Montreal, Beijing, and New York. He is drawn to the intersection of cultures, seeking out the moments of insight, absurdity and beauty that frequently result. Frank’s documentary work focuses on food culture, migration, underground music, and LGBTQ rights. His bylines include HBO, Showtime, VICE, MUNCHIES, Quartz, and the New York Times. With a decade of experience in small-footprint news and documentary shooting, he understands the trust and patience required to record intimate moments with sensitivity as well as high production value. He holds a master’s degree in news and documentary from New York University and a bachelor’s degree with honors in East Asian studies from McGill University. Frank is a Canadian Centre for Architecture external collaborator and brings his unique expertise and network as filmmaker working in many different countries. He is the codirector of the film and contributes to defining its artistic approach.

Yiwei Chen is an independent director, cinematographer, and editor based in New York. Her work takes a critical view of social and cultural issues. Having engaged subjects as diverse as the immigrant right movements, Asian American hip-hop music, and contemporary women’s voices, her work reproduces consistent visual and aural signs, arranging them into new conceptually cinematic journeys. Her documentary film Audry Funk was presented in New York Independent Film Festival. Apart from producing long-term projects, Chen has been working with editorial and commercial clients. Past clients include Google; New York Times; Alibaba; Estée Lauder; TOPICS; VISION; and others.

Karine Charbonneau is associate director of digital and outreach at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). A journalist by training, she has more than 20 years of experience in content strategy, production, management and distribution on multiple platforms–digital, mobile, television, print and social media. Over the course of her career, she has led multidisciplinary digital teams in different media enterprises before joining the CCA. She recently put her knowledge and experience to good use by giving training courses on digital content strategy, social media crisis management and agile methodology. Her experience, acquired in Quebec, Ontario, and France, quickly helped her understand that content can have an impressive strike and conversion power when created strategically and disseminated in the right place, at the right time and in the right format. Far from being a recipe, an effective content strategy is unique to each project. Charbonneau oversees and manages all CCA productions, including Groundwork.

The Canadian Centre for Architecture is an international research center and museum founded in 1979 on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. The institution is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding and expanding thought and debate on architecture, its history, theory, and practice, and its role in society today.