our team
We were born in São Paulo, Brazil, but we are now living around the world, as the nature of our work might suggest.
Mariana Montag
Architect · Cultural Strategist · Systems Thinker
Co-founder, A Casa Organization
Co-founder, Studio Palco
Co-founder, Encountered
I am a professional driven by a deep love for people and a profound gratitude for our shared home — the Earth. My work operates at the intersection of architecture, culture, ecology, and systems design, centering women as agents of construction, cultural transmission, and environmental stewardship. Through A Casa Organization, I develop community-led housing and learning spaces in collaboration with women connected to the land in Uganda, Mexico, and Brazil. Through Studio Palco, I design cultural strategies for artists, institutions, and spaces seeking activation through culture across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. With Encountered, I build partnerships between community-led initiatives and institutions, practicing circular philanthropy and supporting regenerative projects rooted in land-based knowledge
Luiza Tripoli
Architect
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Co-founder, A Casa Organization
Founder, Ateliê Amanhã
I am an architect shaped by the hands-
on learning of the construction site and
by seeking out the material wisdom and natural cycles of diverse communities. This foundational perspective informs my dual practice: as a teaching assistant at Escola da Cidade, where I advocate for the essential integration of academic thought and on-site reality as the ground for embodied, collective knowledge; and through AtelieÌ‚ Amanhã, where I explore architecture’s expansive forms—from woodworking and painting to the intimate design of homes. This work directly complements my co-creation of “A Casa,” where I deepen my research
into communities and sustainability, while intentionally using the construction site itself as a pedagogical process for architecture students. Together, these paths converge to build bridges between people and the biosphere, aiming to reintegrate our lives into its continuous flow.
Awards and Honours
2023 Judges Honorary Award I Emerging Professionals Award I American Institute of Architects
2020 Finalist I Architecture competition A School for Senegal
2020 Honorable Mention I Academic Highlight category I CEF CAU/SP - Graduate Final Works
2020 Honorable Mention I Work Set category I CEF CAU/SP - Graduation Final Works
2020 Highlight I Projeto Novos Olhares I ABEA & UIA 2021 RIO
2020 Shortlist I Young Talented Architecture Award I Funció Mies Van der Rohe Barcelona
2019 Nominated Forbes under 30 I One of the 90 Brazilian influential people under 30
2019 Winner I Beyond Bauhaus - prototyping the future I Land of ideas, displaying this project at CLB Berlin - Aufbau Haus celebrating 100 years of the Bauhaus
Selected Publications
2022 La Casa de la Abuela Cuentacuentos MSc Dissertation in Architecture and Urbanism at Mackenzie Presbyterian University São Paulo, Brazil
2020 Jajja’s House – Self-Built Housing for Women in Rural Areas
UIA 2020: 27th World Congress of Architects
2019 Designing Under the Guideline of Shared Academic Development for Self-Built Housing by Women in Rural Areas
Presented at the XXXVII ENSEA – National Meeting on Architecture and Urban Planning Education I Discussing challenges in 21st-century architecture and urbanism education while reflecting on transience, flows, and pedagogical innovations
2019 Jajja’s House – Self-Built Housing for Women in Rural Areas
Included in the Abstract Book of the I Latin American Seminar on Risk, Resilience, and Humanitarian Architecture (...), PUC-Rio, RJ, December 2019 I Discussing risk, humanitarian architecture, and gender issues
2019 Jajja’s House – Tectonics as Structural Conception and the Evolution of the Structural System for Women's Self-Building
Presented at the IV ENEEEA - National Meeting on Teaching Structures in Schools of Architecture I Rethinking the construction process by integrating local women's ergonomics, recognizing them as builders, and empowering them through hands-on training
2019 Jajja’s House: self-built housing for women in rural areas
BArch Thesis in Architecture and Urbanism at Mackenzie Presbyterian University São Paulo, Brazil
Selected Lectures
2024 Notes on the Creative Process I Mackenzie School of Architecture and Urbanism I São Paulo, BR
2024 Design & Empathy I WIA Leadership Summit, AIA Miami I Miami, USA2024 The Transformation of the Profession I CKLD Program, AIA Miami I Miami, USA
2020 Conversations on Humanitarian Architecture: Designing the Future Today – UN-Habitat2020 Open Class with Pilar Flores: Marie Combette and Mariana Montag – PUCE, Quito, EC
2020 Women, Transformations, & Architecture I A talk with Terceira Margem I Rio de Janeiro, BR2020 The Search for Unlearning I Lecture with the collective Sem Muros I São Paulo, BR
2020 Jajja’s House Talk I Bauhaus Dessau, COOP Design Research Master Program, Dessau, GR
2019 Jajja’s House: An Ecofeminist Experience I Event at Café Jardim I São Paulo, BR
2019 Architecture and Urbanism Lecture Week I Centro Universitário Belas Artes I São Paulo, BR
2019 New Forms of Living: Jajja’s House I Universidade Católica de Santa Catarina I Santa Catarina, BR
2019 Is an Academic Exercise Built? I Mackenzie School of Architecture and Urbanism I São Paulo, BR
Our network of affection
we do not walk alone
Ainbu Daya – Huni Kuin Women’s Network (BR) · Widows Live Today Association (UG) · TORUWU – Training of Rural Women in Uganda (UG) · Instituto Agali Awamu (BR) · Barefoot Law (UG) · Sem Muros (BR) · Encountered Foundation (US) · Bazar for Good (US) · FAU Mackenzie – Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (BR) · Escola da Cidade (BR) · FAU USP – · Universidade de São Paulo (BR) · IAB – Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (BR) · UNAM – · Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX) · UAM-Xochimilco – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (MX) · Architecture-in-Development (A–D) (NL) · UIA – International Union of Architects (INT) · AIA – American Institute of Architects (US) · YTAA – Young Talent Architecture Award, Fundació Mies van der Rohe (EU/ES) · Beyond Bauhaus – Germany Land of Ideas (DE) · Instituto Kayatibu (BR) · Ruína (BR) · Galpão Comum (BR) · Taller Comunal (MX) · La Cabina de la Curiosidad (EC) · Al Borde (EC) · Taller General (EC) · Estúdio Aberto (BR) · Local Works Uganda (UG) · The55Project Art Foundation (US)
This network is our foundation — a living ecology of relationships that sustains both the territory and the work we carry forward. We hope you feel invited to walk with us, as we continue building this possible future together.
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