the centro de arquitetura e urbanismo or center for urbanism and architecture is located in the beautiful botafogo neighborhood of rio.

the purpose of the center is to create, reproduce and disseminate general knowledge about architecture and urbanism, particularly that of the city of rio.

in january 1997 the building, originally built by joaquim fonseca guimarães in 1879, was loaned indefinitely to the municipality to house the center.