The School of Architecture and Urbanism and Design at USP, the Center for Cultural Preservation - Casa de Dona Yayá, the research group "Archive, sources and narratives: between architecture, city and design," 216 - Cultural Heritage, History and Criticism, QUALICON - Quality and Performance in the Built Environment, LabIndus - Laboratory of Industrialization, and Labdias - Laboratory of Studies on Culture, City and Diaspora are pleased to invite professionals, researchers, master craftspeople, holders of traditional knowledge, and other interested parties to submit papers for the 5th Vernacular/Popular Architecture Seminar, to be held from June 8 to 11, 2026. Building on a tradition of studies in the field that began in the 1970s, and currently driven by the democratization of access to the university, FAU-USP is witnessing a resurgence and growing expansion of interest in, and the assimilation of, new perspectives on the diverse processes of vernacular and popular architecture.
The seminar aims to continue the discussions initiated in 2016 with the first edition, "Popular Architecture: The Safeguarding of Traditional Knowledge," an initiative of the research group "Popular Architecture: Spaces and Knowledge" (ARQ POP). Held at the School of Architecture of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), this inaugural seminar highlighted the urgent need to record and safeguard traditional construction knowledge, as well as the importance of conservation and restoration efforts for historic buildings within the popular and traditional register, even before the term "vernacular" was explicitly addressed. The 2nd Seminar on Vernacular Architecture: Heritage and Sustainability (2019), hosted by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) under the leadership of the Vernaculum research group, confirmed the growing demand for a forum to discuss the topic, introducing the term "vernacular" in its articulation with heritage and sustainability. Organized by UFBA and UFMG in a remote format, the 3rd Vernacular/Popular Architecture Seminar (2021) combined the most recurring designations for this field in its title, reflecting the importance of broadening participation and incorporating international reflections and experiences. The 4th Brazilian Seminar on Popular Vernacular Architecture: Tradition and Contemporaneity (2024) took place at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), organized by the research group "The City as a Document of Urban History." It examined the continuities and ruptures in perspective, seeking to expand the national reach of these debates.
The 5th Vernacular/Popular Architecture Seminar continues this mission by bringing together, in person in São Paulo, all those interested in the event's theme—particularly the debates surrounding the matrices, appropriation processes, and regional specificities of vernacular/popular architecture, not only within Brazil but also in relation to other Latin American reflections and experiences. The objective is to explore, discuss, and disseminate the results of research, documentation, languages, projects, and construction techniques, while also mapping and debating the field's conceptual advancements through five thematic axes:
