Previous efforts of Favela Painting transformed 34 buildings in Rio de Janeiro via huge rainbow-colored community mural, creating jobs and beautifying an area often feared by outsiders. This time they are raising funds on Kickstarter to head back to Brazil and paint an entire favela with over 100 hillside homes.

The results of work by Haas&Hahn to date have been multifaceted, including international recognition for dilapidated and under-served neighborhoods and positive attention to these as destination landmarks rather than faceless slums. Using a spectrum of colors, each building receives a distinctive and unique design, yet a sense of unification is achieved across an area at the same time.

This ongoing project has a series of parallel goals – it both empowers and employs locals, and provides an opportunity to shore up and plaster shanty-style structures to make them more energy efficient and safer. “Visual beautification, job creation and positive attention boost pride and self esteem and help bridge social gaps in a creative and artful manner. The projects create a voice for the inhabitants, influence public opinion and media, and can help to change perception and remove stigma.”

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Multi Building Murals Repainting A 100 Home Neighborhood

Brazil is no stranger to paint-based urban interventions, of  whichRio de Janeiro is frequently the focus, but the scope and scale of this project in particular truly boggles the brain.

The Favela Painting Project founded by Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn of Haas&Hahn (via DesignBoom) has turned an entire neighborhood into a dynamic spectrum of color, coating walls from ground to sky with a rainbow of bright paints.

The project “aims at turning public urban spaces in communities facing social difficulties into monumental works of art. the art of favela painting is not about cosmetically ‘camouflaging’ an area, but rather rejuvenating deprived areas of a city and creating a positive social effect on the general district at hand. it is a means of imagination and rethinking, redesigning and rebranding a community at whole.”

About the artists: “Jeroen Koolhaas studied graphic design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and has been working as a freelance audio-visual designer and illustrator for the New Yorker magazine since graduation. Dre Urhah has worked as a journalist, copywriter, and art-director and has set up successful companies specializing in different fields, from event management to television production.”