The modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi, who also designed São Paulo’s Museu de Arte, built this “house of glass” for herself and her husband. It was the first residence in Morumbi, now the richest neighborhood in the city; surrounded by remnants of the Atlantic rainforest, Bo Bardi’s construction resembles a sort of an inverted greenhouse. After her death in 1992, the house was turned into an institute honoring her memory, an archive of artifacts and objets d’art connected to her life.

The Instituto also promotes the work of contemporary Brazilian artists whose work focuses in some way on architecture. It fosters their careers through a series of community-oriented activities: exhibitions, publications, videos, lectures, conferences, lectures and debates. Bo Bardi considered the freedom to think, create and debate to be of utmost importance.