Brazilian Universities Rethink Learning Spaces: From Classroom to Courtyard

A study of ten Brazilian universities examines how campus design has evolved from enclosed classrooms to open courtyards and ramps, a shift rooted in the 1961 Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP) by Vilanova Artigas and Carlos Cascaldi. That building established a paradigm of the university as a continuous territory where learning extends beyond the classroom. The transformation parallels Brazil's higher education expansion: from 226,218 undergraduate enrollments in 1960 to nearly 10 million in 2023. This growth reshaped the relationship between university and city, with campuses becoming urban infrastructure that concentrates flows and offers spaces for social interaction. The coexistence of a vast public network and a decisive private sector produced diverse institutional models, scales, and forms of occupation. The FAU-USP legacy remains relevant not as a formal model to replicate but as a way of understanding the university through its relationship with the city. The article, written by Camilla Ghisleni and published on September 21, 2026, originally appeared in English on ArchDaily. It highlights how ten Brazilian universities are rethinking learning spaces, moving from the classroom to the patio, and underscores the ongoing influence of mid-century modernist principles on contemporary campus design.