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Award-winning project — A commemorative architectural experience guided by light
In January 2025, six years after Brazil's largest humanitarian tragedy, the "Memorial Brumadinho" opened to the public in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais. Designed by Atiaîa Lighting Design, a studio based in Belo Horizonte, the lighting for the project received the 2025 LIT Awards "Architectural Lighting Design of the Year", celebrating excellence in lighting on a global stage.
The path is a 230m cleavage, a literal and symbolic rift that cuts through the terrain to point towards the exact site of the dam failure. Ipê flowers, symbol of life and resilience, remember the flame of candle lights and evoke a procession.
Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
This memorial space honors the 272 victims who lost their lives in the dam collapse at the Córrego do Feijão Mine operated by Vale S.A. The disaster, which occurred on January 25, 2019, released 12 million cubic meters of mining waste and impacted 26 municipalities. The site comprises an entrance pavilion, a grove, outdoor spaces, paths leading to a sculptural monument, a reflecting pool, exhibition rooms titled "Memory" and "Testimony", and a space designated for the dignified storage of corporeal remains.
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- Entrance pavilion: with its twisted and fragmented form, symbolizes the shock of the collapse and the overwhelming force of the mud. Walls and eaves of concrete are highlighted, visually marking the beginning of this solemn space. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- Inside the entrance hall, a crystal druse honors the jewels, the way the victims’ families remember their lost loved ones. The darkness, brushed by small skylights with integrated projectors, invites to the reflection on the shock of the overwhelming force of the mud. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- The Meditation Space, a large multipurpose hall, opens onto the landscape. Its activities can extend to the outdoor amphitheater, reinforcing the collective and communal character of the project. Different scenes provide various atmospheres, from direct to indirect lighting. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- An example of lighting and signage integration. Made of Corten steel, the signage mimics the shapes, views, and angles of the architectural design, showing the way almost silently. Photo credit: Mariana Novaes
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- External living area, between the entrance Pavilion and the Rift. The openings allow views to the Cafeteria and part of the Meditation Space. Grazing fixtures uplight concrete walls and eaves. The druse’s reflecting pool is not illuminated but reflects its surroundings. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- “What memory loves remains eternal. I love you with memory, imperishable.” Adélia Prado’s poem plan grazing lights presents the low relief of signage letters with light and shadow effects, also highlighting texture and color of the concrete mixed with pigment of the mining waste. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- At the Rift, the names of each victim are engraved on the walls together with fiber optics terminals shaped-like ipê flowers, which symbolize life and resilience. Photo credit: Leo Drumond/Nitro
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- The ipê flowers guide the path downwards the viewpoint. The lighting effect is subtle but enough to highlight the jagged walls. Photo credit: Leo Drumond/Nitro
The lighting design evokes a sensitive and immersive atmosphere of reverence. It illuminates poetic and symbolic elements: a poem, a cluster of crystals, 272 ipê flowers, 272 stars floating on the lake—symbolizing the lost "jewels"—and a sculpture that weeps over concrete walls tinted with mining waste pigment. These expressions collectively form a visual narrative to honor and remember the victims. Light also functions as a tool for reflection and transformation. It guides visitors on their journey, shaping the experience through planes of light, shadow, and silence.
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- Three spaces have been carved into the earth at the midpoint of the rift. To the left, Memory, where the families honour their loved ones. To the right, Testimonial, where the facts of the tragedy are displayed, and a sacred space that holds the victims’ recovered remains. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- Fiber optic endlight terminals with lenses are integrated into the concrete for uplighting the waterfall and also integrated into the sculpture nose for highlighting the tears. The water streams are illuminated with a sidelight hose type fiber optic. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- From the sculpture’s geometric eyes, tears flow continually., forming a veil over the concrete walls. The water, a symbol of memory and purification, runs through the space in two streams until it reaches the reflecting pool under the observation deck, where mourning meets contemplation. Photo credit: Leo Drumond/Nitro
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- At the viewpoint, the valley landscape unfolds a surface that has been hit and stained by mud. The lake reflects the sky during the day, and at night it pays a final tribute to the victims, since the mining landscape cannot be the only one still shining on the horizon. Photo credit: Leo Drumond/Nitro
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- At the project’s midway point, a squared sculpture rises like a head suspended over the path, representing humanity in its failure. The map of Córrego do Feijão is printed on its surface. It looks at the site of collapse, where two victims have not yet to been found. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- At the bottom of the lake, 272 fiber optic terminals were installed, programmed to oscillate to create a starry sky effect. A map of the celestial sphere at 12:01 AM on January 25, 2019, the date of the dam burst, is projected onto the lakebed. Light is presence, it is life. Photo credit: Pedro Mascaro
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- Aerial view: from the left to the right are the Entrance Pavilion, the outdoor living area, the Poem, the Rift, the Monument, the vewpoint and the lake. Memory and Testimonial are below the grove, nearby the squared Sculpture. Photo credit: Jomar Bragança
Memorial Brumadinho stands as an act of resistance against forgetting. It asserts that tragedies of such magnitude—against both humanity and nature—must never happen again.
About Atiaîa Lighting Design
Atiaîa Lighting Design was founded in 2016 by Mariana Novaes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The name "Atiaîa", derived from the Tupi-Guarani language, means "ray of light"—a reflection of their guiding philosophy. Their work aims to enhance human well-being and delight through light. With a comprehensive and collaborative design process, Atiaîa works across disciplines and with clients to deliver lighting experiences grounded in user needs and spatial context. Drawing inspiration from light phenomena and the essence of space, the studio balances research, technical depth, and aesthetic detail to realize each project.
