In a park in the city of Uberlandia, Brazil stands Casa Una, a community center and gathering space for park visitors and neighborhood residents. In addition to other uses, it has an open auditorium, a food hall, an office for the neighborhood association, and an exhibition space. Built with a laminated timber structure, the building uses energy-saving passive ventilation and thermal comfort techniques. Lastly, the roof is topped with three species of vegetation covered in a geometric pattern, reducing the heat gained from solar exposure and acting as a fifth facade when viewed from above.

Matheus Diniz is an award-wining architect praised for his spatial sensibility and his drive to improve the urban fabric with his projects. He worked in internationally renowned architecture studios in Brazil, Switzerland and Iceland before founding in 2012 his own studio, MDAD, where he develops projects in several scales. His projects were featured in several publications and he was unanimously awarded with the grand prize for the 57th Annual Architects Awards of the Brazilian Institute of Architects – Rio de Janeiro. He was selected to present two of his projects in the 27th World Congress of Architects that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 2021.

Idealiza cidades makes handmade urbanism, with a deep comprehension of place as well as lifestyles and the freedom of choice of people. Thru innovative and creative solutions, we aim to reach new points of view, always for the betterment of the city and our relationship to it. We want our spaces to inspire others to action, so that we can have more and better places designed to serve community and people. Our urban developments have received several awards from respected Brazilian institutions.