In 1961, when conceiving the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo, in São Paulo, Vilanova Artigas and Carlos Cascaldi established a paradigm that continues to resonate throughout Brazilian university architecture: the building as a continuous territory, articulated by ramps, courtyards, and open spans, where the experience of learning extends beyond the classroom. The idea emerged at a moment of transformation in Brazilian higher education, which, over the following decades, would expand from serving a relatively restricted audience to reaching a much broader and more diverse population. If Brazil had approximately 226,218 undergraduate enrollments in 1960, by 2023 that number had approached 10 million.
This growth also transformed the relationship between the university and the city. Shaped by the coexistence of an extensive public network and a private sector that has played an equally decisive role in expanding higher education, the Brazilian system has produced distinct institutional models, scales, and forms of occupation. The campus has ceased to be merely the physical support of an institution and, in many cases, has become a form of urban infrastructure, concentrating flows while providing spaces for interaction and social life. In this broader context, the legacy of FAU-USP remains relevant—not as a formal model to be replicated, but as a way of understanding the university through its relationship with the city.
