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Project Morrinho is a social and cultural project based out of the Pereira da Silva favela in the wealthy Southern Zone of Rio de Janeiro.  Our aim is to bring positive change to our local community, as well as challenge the popular perception of Brazil’s favelas.  The belief that favelas are merely dominated by drug trafficking and violence is not all encompassing.  Through our work within Brazil and abroad, it is our hope to improved popular perception of all favelas.


Morrinho’s headquarters is a 350 square meter small-scale model of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas constructed from bricks and other recycled materials.  It began as a simple childhood game in 1997 by local youth so they could escape from the realities of violence and corruption that plagued their lives and their community.  Within this miniature urban world of Morrinho (which means either “little hill” or “little favela” in Portuguese), they acted out a role-playing game with the numerous Lego-block avatars that inhabit the model, recreating life in Rio’s favelas.  Currently more than 20 teenagers are following the example of our founding members.


Project Morrinho has increasingly garnered attention for its amazing aesthetics and the ingenuity of its child creators.  We have been able to use that attention to evolve, not only as a work of art, but also, into an organization with aspiration for social change.  Our four initiatives, TV Morrinho, Tourism at Morrinho, Expo Morrinho and Morrinho Social, each play an important role in realizing the vision of Project Morrinho and help us to directly contribute to the social, cultural and economic development of the surrounding areas.

News...


  1. •We’ve now finished our 7-part film series of Morrinho in London.  See your YouTube channel here.


  1. •See our new feature, you can now purchase tours of Morrinho’s model via PayPal.  See our “Tourism at Morrinho” page.


  1. •Our friends Felicity and John have published an article on Morrinho in the Guardian!  See here.


  1. •A great article in the Rio Times of Morrinho in London.  See here.


  1. •We’ve uploaded new photos from London, see here.


  1. •Morrinho’s model in London, is located on Southbank Centre's "Riverside Terrace" through September 5th.  Click here.