Bárbara Maçães Costa is an architect and academic. She studied Architecture at the University of Porto, Drawing at the University of Lisbon, and holds a PhD in Architecture and Sciences of the City from the EPFL. Outside of academia, she works primarily in the fields of landscape and urbanism. Her teaching and research cover these disciplines, with a particular interest in cartography and modern environmental aesthetics. She is Senior Lecturer at Kingston University London and Visiting Lecturer at EPFL.
Education
Architecture and Sciences of the City
| PhD
2016 – 2021
EPFL
Directed by
Harry Gugger, EPFL / Emily Scott, UO
Drawing
| MFA
2011 – 2013
Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa (FBAUL)
Directed by
António Pedro
Architecture
| Pre-Bologna Licentiate
2001 – 2008
Faculty of Architecture University of Porto (FAUP)
Directed by
Camilo Rebelo
2021
Conduit, Patio, Waste: Mapping Environmental Relations in Bairro da Malagueira
Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8185.2019
Renouer avec la rue.Trilogie d’espaces publics à Yangon (Myanmar)
2019Les îles de Porto.Projet de logements sociaux et construction de la ville (P)
2019Marrakech Oasis.Infrastructures sociales pour l’oued Issil (Maroc)
2019Au-delà de la reproduction: un nouveau foyer communautaire à Bâle
2019PORTUGAL Lessons
Zurich: PARK Books.2018
Seuils environnementaux. L’architecture paysagère du campus EPFL/UNIL (Ecublens, VD)
2018"Caldas do Viaduto". Population et territoire vieillissants de Beira Interior (PT)
2018L’école Tarbut
2018Passage du Poète: la station-service du Lavaux (VD)
2018Décoloniser la nature: une infrastructure pour un marécage à Mexico
20182017
Eugenic Garden City: the Urbanism of Controlled Evolution
Kritische Berichte. 2017.ISRAEL Lessons
Zurich: Park Books.Un port et des cabanes, à la découverte du lac Baïkal (Sibérie)
2017“Bali Tirtha Swastika”.Des sommets aux côtes, une gestion holistique des eaux
2017Stratégies architecturales de défense contre le risque de tsunami pour la ville de Yaizu au Japon
20172016
Venice Lessons
Lausanne: PARK BOOKS.2015
Icelandic Lessons, Industrial Landscape, Teaching and Research in Architecture
PARK BOOKS.2014
Urban-Nature: The Ecology of Planetary Artifice
San Rocco. 2014.Research
Current Research Fields
My teaching focuses on the relationship between architecture and landscape. I have explored this topic in the context of theory courses on modernism, landscape-based design studios, and mixed units focusing on representation, particularly cartography. In all cases, I aim to challenge the perception of buildings as reified icons, presenting them instead as environmental artefacts that embody certain histories and ideologies.
My research interests include the disciplinary boundaries between architecture and landscape; the tension between site and drawing as the primary loci of the project; the role of drawing as a mediator between theory and practice; and the debate between autonomy and realism in the neo-avant-garde. I am also interested in the problematic legacy of cartography within the Enlightenment project and its post-war critique, particularly in relation to the philosophical category of 'totality'.
My research interests include the disciplinary boundaries between architecture and landscape; the tension between site and drawing as the primary loci of the project; the role of drawing as a mediator between theory and practice; and the debate between autonomy and realism in the neo-avant-garde. I am also interested in the problematic legacy of cartography within the Enlightenment project and its post-war critique, particularly in relation to the philosophical category of 'totality'.
Teaching & PhD
Courses
AR-476 UE U : Cartography
Teaching unit on cartography and environmental relations in architecture.
Teaching unit on cartography and environmental relations in architecture.
AR-505 Modernity, Architecture & the Environment
Theory course on modernist environmental aesthetics in architecture.