From São Paulo to Brussels: "Copan" opens the conversation on homes, communities and shared spaces

The documentary takes viewers inside Edifício Copan, Oscar Niemeyer's iconic modernist building in the centre of São Paulo, Brazil. Home to around 5,000 residents, more than 100 workers and a mix of shops, services and cultural spaces, Edifício Copan is often described as a city within a building.

Introducing the screening, Brazil's Ambassador to the European Union Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva described Copan as an ambitious attempt to combine aesthetics, functionality and social inclusion through collective urban living. The film, he suggested, offers an opportunity to reflect on both the promise and the challenges of turning those ideals into lived reality.

As such, the film gave a glimpse into the themes that will shape this year's Festival of the New European Bauhaus (NEB), taking place from 9 to 13 June at the Art & History Museum in Brussels’ Parc du Cinquantenaire. Under the banner “Life. Spaces. Buildings.”, the Festival will bring communities, creators, innovators, changemakers and other participants to explore how better homes, neighbourhoods and shared spaces can improve everyday life and how people can work together to create places that are sustainable, inclusive and resilient. 

A building shaped by people  

Rather than focusing on the history of the building or the vision of its architect, Wallauer looks at the people who animate it.

Herself a resident of Copan for seven years, she spent five years making the film. During a conversation with Brazilian artist Raquel Santana de Morais after the screening, Wallauer said the project was a deeply personal exploration of everyday life, community and participation.

For Wallauer, the story is less about the building than the people who inhabit it.

“Mostly it is about the human condition and about democracy,” she told the audience.

The film takes place against the backdrop of the 2022 Brazil presidential election, which saw current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva win against Jair Bolsonaro. Amid conversations about the polls and the country’s future, residents reflect on the democratic processes in their own daily lives in part as they contend with, and challenge, the more than 30-year tenure of a powerful building manager.

Beyond the residents – among them a live stream performer, a DJ, and a tarot card reader – Wallauer's film pays particular attention to the marginalised workers who keep the building running. These are the people who rarely feature in stories about Copan. Giving visibility to their experiences and their views was one of Wallauer's driving motivations.

The director also reflected on how shared spaces shape relationships and communities.

“When you live in a building, you share space with people that you do not choose,” she said, describing Copan as a microcosm of society itself.

In Wallauer's view, the building becomes a small-scale reflection of how people negotiate difference, participation and coexistence in society.

That observation reflects the themes of this year's Festival, which places democratic engagement at the centre of discussions about how communities can shape their homes, neighbourhoods and shared spaces.

Audience questions touched on issues ranging from participation and belonging to housing and the changing nature of urban communities. Wallauer acknowledged the tensions within Copan while emphasising the strength of its community.

“I am really enthusiastic about the building,” she said, “because the sense of community really works there.”  

Scaling solutions for better places

Conversations sparked by Copan will be explored throughout the Festival week. Through Forum, Fair and Fest programmes, the Festival will showcase projects and solutions that are already helping communities to create more affordable, inclusive and resilient homes and neighbourhoods.

This marks an important moment in the evolution of the New European Bauhaus. Following six years of projects, experimentation and collaboration, the focus now is on scaling up what has been shown to work.

That sense of connection is one reason the film feels particularly relevant to the New European Bauhaus: an initiative founded on three core values – beauty, sustainability and inclusiveness – recognising that the quality of places depends not only on physical spaces, but also on the relationships, opportunities and experiences they enable.

As the Festival approaches, Copan offers a powerful reminder that homes, neighbourhoods and shared spaces are shaped as much by people as by buildings. Across Brussels and at satellite events around Europe and beyond, Festival participants will share projects, practical experiences, ideas and solutions that are enabling better ways of living.

Since its launch in 2020, the New European Bauhaus initiative has grown into a movement bringing together communities, innovators, businesses, experts and public authorities to improve the places where people live. More than €500 million has been mobilised and almost 700 projects completed across Europe, creating practical solutions that are improving homes, neighbourhoods and public spaces and are now being shared, adapted to local needs and scaled up across different communities.

As Wallauer herself put it, “There is beauty in this sharing experience.”