Arts, Culture, and Heritage as Drivers of Change
Miguel Burnier's community center
Miguel Burnier's community center: a "Live Heritage" project in Ouro Preto
Rooted in the memory of Miguel Burnier and the needs of its present, this Community Center emerges from careful listening and precise diagnosis. Designed to embrace existing celebrations beside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, it weaves heritage and everyday life through volumes, materials, bamboo partitions, and stained-glass-inspired details. More than a building, it is a living place of belonging, where past and future meet, a form of resistance in a deeply mining affected community.
Brazil
Local
District Miguel Burnier, located Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerais
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It involves a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
2026-02-21
No
No
No
Organisation
The project of the Living Center, located in the Miguel Burnier District, in the city of Ouro Preto - Minas Gerais, was one of the activities for the creation and development of complete projects for the “Living Heritage” program created by GERDAU S/A in collaboration with the demand of the Municipal Government of Ouro Preto. The scopes of the Program were divided into phases, being the Restoration Project of the Sagrado Coração de Jesus Church, integrated assets, Bandstand, and external area with the Implementation of a Living Center, with the intervention in the immediate surroundings. Rooted in the memory of the Miguel Burnier District and the needs of the present, the Living Center arises from attentive listening to the community. The entire process for the development of this project was extracted through meetings with the community, generating the program of requirements for this intervention. The designed building is meant to accommodate traditional/religious celebrations, as well as visitors and parish activities. The project in focus intertwines historical heritage, everyday life, and contemporary architecture through flat volumes, neutral colors, high-resistance and low-maintenance materials, and decorative elements that interact with the protagonist of this narrative, which is the Sagrado Coração de Jesus Church. More than a building, it is a living place of belonging, where the past and the future meet.
The origin of the Miguel Burnier Living Center is linked to the understanding that, in territories marked by intense transformations associated with mining, designing requires, above all, listening. The project arose from the demand to intervene in the Sagrado Coração de Jesus Church and its immediate surroundings, connected to the absence of a qualified public space to host collective activities, and was part of the set of actions called “Living Heritage” created by the Funding Company. From the beginning, the process was guided by listening to the community and by a sensitive reading of the territory, understanding that architectural solutions should emerge from the practices, memories, and dynamics already existing in Miguel Burnier.
Its development involved the local community association, residents, and district agents, through interviews, meetings, socio-spatial diagnostics, and other moments of dialogue conducted by a multidisciplinary team. This process allowed for the identification of uses, expectations, symbolic references, and concrete demands, while also analyzing the available land, its strategic position in the district, and its relationship with the immediate surroundings, especially with the bandstand (Requalified building) and the Sagrado Coração de Jesus Church (revitalized building).
From this process, a multi-scalar program was consolidated, which encompassed the urban dimension — including the proposition of parking spaces, gardens, tree planting, roads with usage restrictions, and public spaces — the implementation of universal accessibility, the Requalification of the Bandstand, the creation of a square, and the introduction of the new community and cultural equipment. More than a preliminary stage, this route constituted the very conceptual basis of the project. JoGlo's work occurred from the initial diagnosis to the drafting of preliminary studies, basic and executive projects, budgeting, physical-financial scheduling, etc.
Its development involved the local community association, residents, and district agents, through interviews, meetings, socio-spatial diagnostics, and other moments of dialogue conducted by a multidisciplinary team. This process allowed for the identification of uses, expectations, symbolic references, and concrete demands, while also analyzing the available land, its strategic position in the district, and its relationship with the immediate surroundings, especially with the bandstand (Requalified building) and the Sagrado Coração de Jesus Church (revitalized building).
From this process, a multi-scalar program was consolidated, which encompassed the urban dimension — including the proposition of parking spaces, gardens, tree planting, roads with usage restrictions, and public spaces — the implementation of universal accessibility, the Requalification of the Bandstand, the creation of a square, and the introduction of the new community and cultural equipment. More than a preliminary stage, this route constituted the very conceptual basis of the project. JoGlo's work occurred from the initial diagnosis to the drafting of preliminary studies, basic and executive projects, budgeting, physical-financial scheduling, etc.
Community Center
Urban Intervention
Social Diagnostics
Qualified Public Spaces
Repair of Communities Affected by Mining
The sustainability of the Miguel Burnier Living Center is directly linked to its ability to respond, in an integrated manner, to environmental, social, cultural, and economic challenges in a territory deeply marked by mining. Instead of proposing an isolated solution, the project revitalizes an underused space in the central area of the subdistrict and transforms it into community infrastructure for shared use, reducing the logic of expansion into new areas and enhancing an existing asset. Its goal was to create a durable, adaptable, and socially rooted community equipment, capable of supporting activities such as the Congado, strengthening the permanence of the local population, and increasing the daily resilience of the territory. The implementation of this strategy combined urban redevelopment, universal accessibility, multiscale design, and the incorporation of solutions linked to the local context. The project promotes collective and flexible use of space, a condition valued by NEB as a form of resource sharing and extension of the architecture's useful life. It also incorporates materials and construction references associated with the place, such as the use of bamboo as a partition, reducing impacts through choices compatible with the local reality and strengthening connections between technique, culture, and future maintenance. When applicable, the project also integrates rainwater reuse, a landscaping proposal, and the adoption of permeable structures, which create environments with good natural light use, contributing to the microclimate, biodiversity, and environmental adaptation of the complex. Your results already achieved include the social activation of a previously idle plot of land, the improvement of central public spaces, the enhancement of community practices, and the creation of a structure capable of accommodating various uses over time. Its exemplary character lies precisely in understanding sustainability as social permanence.
The aesthetic strength of the Living Center lies in the way its 'L'-shaped layout transforms the program into an architectural presence. Instead of merely accommodating functions, the building shapes the open space and enhances it: one wing concentrates the support environments, while the other forms the large covered meeting area, producing a composition that is both functional and sculptural. This geometry is not neutral: it embraces the plaza, organizes flows, creates framing, and turns the void into a civic place. The result is architecture with strong legibility, capable of being perceived as a reference in the district both for the clarity of its form and for the spatial generosity it offers in everyday life. Its plasticity is built on a balance between horizontality, lightness, and rhythm. The wide and thin coverage seems to hover over slender pillars, while the perforated planes filter light, ventilation, and view, giving a sensitive thickness to the transitions between interior and exterior. The exposed slab, the graphic elements inspired by the church's rose window, and the reinterpretation of construction solutions associated with the local repertoire give visual unity to the whole without resorting to gratuitous gestures. There is a rigorous beauty in this architecture: it is striking without being excessive, open without losing definition, contemporary without breaking with the memory of the place. This formal quality concretely enhances people's experience. The building offers shade, shelter, visual permeability, and a welcoming scale for lingering, celebration, and unexpected uses. At the same time, its strong image helps to consolidate a sense of belonging: more than just a facility, it becomes a collective landmark, recognizable and appropriable. Its exemplary character lies precisely in demonstrating that aesthetics were not treated as a finish, but as a synthesis of form, use, structure, memory, and public life.
Inclusion in the Miguel Burnier Living Center begins with the very choice to transform an underused central area into open, free, and recognizable community infrastructure, reducing socio-spatial segregation and returning to the district a meeting place that previously did not exist. Implemented in direct relation to the church, the bandstand, and the square, the project connects building and open space as a continuous system of collective use, capable of hosting religious celebrations, cultural events, and everyday activities without hierarchizing audiences or restricting belonging. Its conception was born from interviews, meetings, and diagnostics with residents and local agents, so that inclusion does not appear merely as a technical requirement, but as a concrete response to practices already rooted in Miguel Burnier and to the lack of a civic cultural equipment capable of accommodating them more comfortably. On the spatial plan, this guideline is translated into unobstructed access, continuous pathways, and the integration between the square, covered area, and support environments, to which are added specific universal accessibility strategies, such as the possibility of access for people with reduced mobility (for example, a ramped staircase), the presence of accessible sanitary facilities, and the flexibility of possible uses as a design element, especially through the creation of qualified spaces for collective activities with easy access to the kitchen, which features a layout organized according to workflow, providing comfort and prominence to this activity. From the point of view of financial and social accessibility, it is a piece of equipment designed for community use, expanding access to collective activities without creating economic barriers. Its exemplary nature lies in bringing together social listening, territorial repair, and design for all in a clear architectural solution: more than just allowing entry, the project creates real conditions for
At the Miguel Burnier Living Center, participation structured the project from its inception and had a real influence on the program, implementation, and public significance of the building. Instead of starting from a predefined set of needs, the team carried out a diagnosis based on active listening, fieldwork, and ongoing interaction with the community, in accordance with the criteria of the public notice that value the involvement of citizens and affected users in project identification, design development, and use programming.Several meetings, interviews, and moments of conversation were held with the residents and their community leaders, in addition to intense contact in the territory with different local leaders, which allowed for understanding concrete demands, already established practices, conflicts of use, symbolic references, and expectations for the future.This process made the community not act merely as a consulted audience, but as an active agent in the formulation of guidelines: the need for a covered meeting space, the direct relationship with the church and the bandstand, the appreciation of events like Congado, and the construction of a flexible, open, and adaptable community equipment all stem directly from this listening. By qualifying the problem before designing the solution, participation enhanced the project's consistency, avoiding generic responses and producing architecture rooted in local life. Its exemplary dimension lies precisely in this: demonstrating that listening, recording, interpreting, and spatially returning the community's contributions generates better social performance, greater sense of belonging, and higher potential for continued use.
The governance of the Miguel Burnier Living Center was structured in a multi-level manner by articulating, from implementation to future operation, actors with complementary roles and real decision-making capacity. At the local level, the management of the equipment is community-oriented, responsible for the daily activation of the space, the mediation of its uses, and the definition of programs aligned with the practices already existing in the district.
At the municipal level, the partnership with the Ouro Preto City Hall ensures institutional support, coordination with public policies, and greater stability for the continuity of the community equipment over time. Meanwhile, the facilitation of construction through a private fund, carried out by Gerdau, added financial capacity to the initiative without displacing its public purpose, allowing external resources to be converted into community infrastructure rooted in the territory. This combination of community management, public authority support, and private contribution produced tangible value: it brought together social legitimacy, economic feasibility, and institutional backing in a single arrangement, avoiding both exclusive dependence on the State and private capture of the space. In adherence to the criterion of multi-level engagement, the project vertically connects informal community networks to formal institutions and, thereby, extends its impact beyond the building itself. Its exemplary character lies precisely in demonstrating that good governance, in this case, is not limited to the management of the equipment but constitutes a form of shared responsibility among civil society, public authorities, and funders, capable of strengthening belonging, ensuring continuity of use, and providing lasting support to an initiative born from local listening and demand.
At the municipal level, the partnership with the Ouro Preto City Hall ensures institutional support, coordination with public policies, and greater stability for the continuity of the community equipment over time. Meanwhile, the facilitation of construction through a private fund, carried out by Gerdau, added financial capacity to the initiative without displacing its public purpose, allowing external resources to be converted into community infrastructure rooted in the territory. This combination of community management, public authority support, and private contribution produced tangible value: it brought together social legitimacy, economic feasibility, and institutional backing in a single arrangement, avoiding both exclusive dependence on the State and private capture of the space. In adherence to the criterion of multi-level engagement, the project vertically connects informal community networks to formal institutions and, thereby, extends its impact beyond the building itself. Its exemplary character lies precisely in demonstrating that good governance, in this case, is not limited to the management of the equipment but constitutes a form of shared responsibility among civil society, public authorities, and funders, capable of strengthening belonging, ensuring continuity of use, and providing lasting support to an initiative born from local listening and demand.
The transdisciplinarity of the Miguel Burnier Living Center lies in the fact that the project was not developed solely as an architectural response, but as a convergence between territorial analysis, social listening, heritage, urbanism, accessibility, and constructive feasibility. In adherence to the criteria of the call for proposals, which values the articulation between different fields of knowledge to generate solutions that did not emerge from isolated action, the process brought together a multidisciplinary team and combined socio-spatial diagnosis, field observation, architectural design, urban planning, technical support for the construction, and continued dialogue with the local community.
This collaboration involved, within the JoGlo team, specialist architects (heritage, contemporary architecture, landscaping, and urban planning), conservation restorers, civil, mechanical, and production engineers, a surveyor, historians, and team managers, who did not work in parallel but in effective exchange, reinterpreting the demands of the territory into complete spatial decisions. It was from this intersection that, for example, the articulated layout between the building, the square, and the bandstand emerged, the incorporation of universal accessibility, the enhancement of already existing community practices, and the translation of local symbolic references — such as the church’s rose window into the perforated elements (panels and railings) and the hydraulic tiles — into contemporary architectural language.
This collaboration involved, within the JoGlo team, specialist architects (heritage, contemporary architecture, landscaping, and urban planning), conservation restorers, civil, mechanical, and production engineers, a surveyor, historians, and team managers, who did not work in parallel but in effective exchange, reinterpreting the demands of the territory into complete spatial decisions. It was from this intersection that, for example, the articulated layout between the building, the square, and the bandstand emerged, the incorporation of universal accessibility, the enhancement of already existing community practices, and the translation of local symbolic references — such as the church’s rose window into the perforated elements (panels and railings) and the hydraulic tiles — into contemporary architectural language.
The business model of the Miguel Burnier Living Center combines already established technical capacity, institutional coordination, and complementary sources of funding, which gives it solidity and low structuring cost. Our architecture firm already has its own team, accumulated expertise, and operational structure to develop, coordinate, and oversee projects of this nature, reducing dependence on complex external arrangements and allowing greater efficiency in the use of resources. In this context, the investment focuses less on setting up a new operation and more on the qualified delivery of the project, the construction, and its territorial implementation.
The construction was made possible with environmental compensation funds, while the equipment's sustainability over time relies on a complementary arrangement between community management and a partnership with the Municipal City Hall of Ouro Preto, responsible for institutional support and for promoting future activities at the site. It is, therefore, a hybrid model, in which private technical capacity, external funding, and public-community governance mutually reinforce each other. Its consistency lies in avoiding the creation of a heavy and costly structure to operate the project: the technical base already exists, the resources raised are directed to what effectively generates impact, and continuity depends on a local network of shared responsibility.
The construction was made possible with environmental compensation funds, while the equipment's sustainability over time relies on a complementary arrangement between community management and a partnership with the Municipal City Hall of Ouro Preto, responsible for institutional support and for promoting future activities at the site. It is, therefore, a hybrid model, in which private technical capacity, external funding, and public-community governance mutually reinforce each other. Its consistency lies in avoiding the creation of a heavy and costly structure to operate the project: the technical base already exists, the resources raised are directed to what effectively generates impact, and continuity depends on a local network of shared responsibility.
The scalability of MIGUEL BURNIER's COMMUNITY CENTER does not lie on the literal reproduction of its form, but in the transferability of the method that shaped it: territorial diagnosis, active listening, reading local cultural references, and translating these inputs into a flexible community facility with strong social roots and low dependence on complex solutions. The project can serve as a model especially for small districts, vulnerable communities, or territories marked by loss of centrality and lack of collective infrastructure. It shows how an underused space can be requalified into a civic hub through a multiscalar intervention that connects building, square, accessibility, and support for existing community practices. Its most transferable elements are the participatory process used to define the programme, the articulation between heritage, public space, and new collective use, the adoption of construction solutions compatible with local realities, and an implementation arrangement combining external funding, institutional support, and proximity-based management. Replication does require certain conditions: technical capacity for qualified socio-spatial analysis, partners committed to the continuity of the facility, and dialogue with community leaders able to turn diffuse demands into project guidelines. In each new context, the programme must be adapted to local socio-spatial needs through a critical reading of the territory and its pre-existing conditions. This preserves the method without imposing a standardised solution. This balance between methodological consistency and local adaptation is precisely what makes the project exemplary: it offers not an object to be copied, but a replicable logic of territorial repair, community activation, and public-space improvement, applicable to other geographies and beneficiary groups.
