Jose Maria de Araujo Souza is recorded as a Brazilian student enrolled on the 1967-68 postgraduate ‘Educational Building Course’ run by the Architectural Association’s (AA) Department of Development and Tropical Studies, in London. He successfully completed his studies and was formally presented with the AA Diploma in Tropical Studies in July 1968. By 1969 Jose had returned home and was living in Brasilia. Exact details of his career are not yet known to us, beyond the fact that by 1980 he had reached the position of General Director of the Centro Brasileira de Construcoes e Equipamentos Escolares (CEBRAS), an agency of the Brazilian ministry of educational culture, which had been formed in 1973, its aims being to assist the specification, co-ordination and management of educational facilities and equipment. It seems likely that Jose’s attendance on the AA’s Educational Building Course was in preparation for a role within this field.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register, 1945-71. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Council Minutes, 22nd July, 1968. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Membership Register, 1969. AA Archives
• Araujo Souza, Jose Maria de, ‘Cebrace – Centro Brasileiro de Construcoes e Equipmentos Escolares,’ Educational Facility Planner, Vol. 18, No. 6, Nov-Dec, 1980, pp.07-08