Brazilian Architecture Research Articles

Independent structure and load-bearing wall: origin and evolution of Lucio Costa’s proposal

The assimilation of the structural skeleton of reinforced concrete or steel is one of the problems that architects face in the last third of the nineteenth century. The characteristic mode of construction of the machine age, enabling both separate isolated supports and partitions as well as raising skyscrapers, the independent skeleton with its isolated supports means that continuous construction sys- tems with massive load-bearing walls becomes outdated. Com- bined with glass walls and light partition walls, visions are fed a column architecture which reminds one of the Parthenon, as well as being preferred by Quatreme?re Quincy, like the “primitive hut” by Marc-Antoine Laugier abbot, inspired by a pure structure which emulates Gothic architecture, as Euge?ne Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc wanted. The assimilation of this skeleton implies erce disputes between advocates of a “new tradition” and “new pioneers” who were younger, among whom was Le Corbusier, who proclaimed that “the great architecture of the times depend on a pure system of structure”, and promoted in his work a speci c independent structure of the type proposed in the Domi-no houses of 1915, without visible beams that compromised the free distribution of internal and external walls. For Lucio Costa, the arrival on the scene of an independent Dom-ino type structure is seen as the preferred characteristic structure of the new architecture. This attribute takes the scheme of paral- lel laminated plates on a grid of supports to paradigmatic status condition in “Razo?es da nova arquitectura” (1936). The de nition of modern architecture as inclusive architecture in “Universidade do Brasil” (1937) leads to the notion of modern architecture as a tri-articulated system in terms of structural programmatic and ty- pologies, implying a hierarchical bias system, that includes special structures referring to Gothic architecture and classic continued support structures for hybrid alternatives for the main structure. Such assimilation resolved a long disciplinary crisis gestated in the nineteenth century, identi ed by Costa as ‘two opposing concepts that are always based on all manifestations’ which only de nite- ly terminate with the hegemony of modern architecture around the world in the postwar period, anticipated by a revolutionary transformation of the European avant-garde in the 1920s and the carioca vanguard in the 1930s. This article discusses the sources of Costa’s proposal that were at the center of the debate throughout the nineteenth century and that underlie Brazilian modern architecture. The investigation links the evolution of isolated support in relation to the load-bear- ing wall, under tensions between structural behavior and formal demands, as the origin of a disciplinary crisis. A growing con ict started between the artistic dimension and the technique of ar- chitectural discipline that marks the second half of the eighteenth century, from the philosophy of the Enlightenment, and later un- der the Structural Rationalism of the nineteenth century, new methods are brought into confrontation with forms which until that moment came from a purely empirical process. At the cen- ter of these debates are controversies over the freestanding col- umn that led to the emergence of the complete modern sense of structure, a notion that would inform the rst experiments in iron construction and the subsequent development of the emerging structural concept of the twentieth century.

Leaves in movement: The letters of Roberto Burle Marx

World famous Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) was an avid correspondent. The letters he wrote from the 1940s to the 1990s are a unique and significant source of knowledge about his multifaceted professional activities and his personal life. This essay offers a brief analysis of the extensive collection of over 2,000 letters preserved in his office, written to and received from family members, landscape architects, botanists, horticulturists, institutions, and various well-known people in Brazil and other countries across the world.

Parque do Flamengo: projetar a cidade, desenhando patrimônio

RESUMO Trata-se de uma narrativa sobre o processo de patrimonialização do Parque do Flamengo, no Rio de Janeiro, tombado em 1965 pelo Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - Iphan. O Parque foi projetado pelo arquiteto Affonso Eduardo Reidy e o paisagista Roberto Burle Marx, ligados à “escola carioca” de arquitetura moderna. O artigo estabelece conexões entre esse processo e a constituição do campo arquitetônico no Brasil, abordando as políticas de proteção de bens arquitetônicos e paisagísticos modernos promovidas pelo Iphan. Essas análises estão situadas no bojo do intenso processo de reformas urbanas implementadas na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, no governo de Carlos Lacerda, primeiro governador do estado da Guanabara, no conturbado contexto político nacional de golpe militar e instalação do regime autoritário no Brasil. O artigo explora ainda os valores de patrimônio acionados na preservação do Parque do Flamengo no contexto em que o Rio de Janeiro torna-se palco de grandes eventos esportivos e recebe o título da Unesco de Patrimônio Mundial na categoria de Paisagem Cultural, ao passo que a agenda contemporânea do campo do patrimônio coloca na ordem do dia o debate sobre a sua função social. Espera-se contribuir com reflexões sobre patrimônio na chave do direito à cidade, problematizando o tradicional confronto entre preservação cultural e especulação imobiliária. O material empírico privilegiado foi o processo de tombamento do Parque do Flamengo e as atas do Conselho Consultivo do Iphan relacionadas ao assunto.

Teresina e as moradias da região central da cidade (1852-1952)

This research deals with urban housing in Brazil, notably in the period that goes from the second half of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, having as its north the transformations resulting from the search for modernity, health and comfort and their relationship with the architectural styles adopted. For that, it analyzes the residences built in the central region of the city of Teresina, founded to become the capital of the State of Piauí, which, together with social and economic factors, technical limitations and local climatic conditions, originated an architecture of very peculiar characteristics. It seeks, therefore, to understand and characterize the transformations that took place, as well as their diffusion in the city, focusing on the agents involved in this process and on the appropriation of the Teresina society of the different residential typologies. It is based mainly on documentation consulted in local and private archives - such as almanacs, newspapers, reports, legislation and images from the time -, surveys, interviews, as well as bibliography of local historians, with emphasis on Teresinha Queiroz, Monsenhor Chaves and Odilon Nunes. In order to support the analyses, it also seeks theoretical support in consolidated authors such as Carlos A. C. Lemos and Nestor Goulart Reis Filho. It contributes, in this way, to broaden the knowledge of the production of urban housing in Teresina-PI, so little present in the historiography of Brazilian architecture.

On Triangles and Houses: Conjectures on Space and the City in Relation to Some of Vilanova Artigas’s Houses in São Paulo

In São Paulo during the 1950s, a number of architectural projects for private residences had a significant impact on discussions concerning the relationship between architecture and the city within the context of industrial modernization and developmentism. The work of Vilanova Artigas (1915-1985) not only assembled the greatest number of theories on potential spatial and architectural configuration in this emerging peripheral metropolis but, from that moment onward, also had a permanent impact on Brazilian architecture. This was a period of expansive growth in the occupation and urbanization of Brazilian industrial cities and the problems thrown up by Vilanova Artigas’s architecture determined the endurance of architectural patterns which focused on a wide range of urbanity issues related to buildings which could not be controlled or changed by land occupations of that time. The aim of this work is to analyze the development of architectural and spatial patterns, which we believe, are at the root of the constructive experimentations in homes projected by Vilanova Artigas. Through his works, the architect was able to give shape to the social contradictions of the conservative modernization of South America’s greatest metropolis, São Paulo. The aim of this paper is to propose new topics which can assist the theorization of the difficult relationship between Brazilian architecture and the accelerated development of Brazil’s large cities. Brazil is currently undergoing a period of great urban transformations in the wake of the recent public and private investment in cities. Which local conceptions of architecture will counteract the processes of territorial degradation, a product of the aggression of economic movements driven by private conceptions of the collective space?

Cuadros de una exposición: promenade architectural por la obra de Eduardo de Almeida

This paper aims to provide a descriptive, analytical, and reflective approach to the work of Brazilian architect Eduardo de Almeida. The method of this approach is a promenade through 54 years of work, following an interpretive walk Almeida proposed in his last lecture in Sao Paulo, in 2014. Visions of the creator and the critic are intertwined here, based on interpreting works and ideas. The focal points of the text highlight some key features of the oeuvre of the architect: rigor, rationality, tectonic and modular thinking, sensitivity, and discretion. These elements define, as well as determinate, the results of the discussed projects. Although for methodological reasons we do not intend to reach any conclusion, this promenade demonstrates that the creative work developed by Almeida was the result of a constant overlapping of clarifying layers of rationality and analysis of his own architectural practice, which, determined by the profession, helped to build the architect's position.

La reconstruction de Royan

Abstract The coastal city Royan was destroyed in 1945 to 85% and was rebuild first of all by Claude Ferret and Louis Simon. The reconstruction of the city contributed significantly the formation of the modernism in the 1950’s. However, this avant-garde image did not express in the first projects, they still where in the continuity of the monumental architecture of the 1930’s. Only the revival of the architectural discourse at the end of the 1940’s led to a profound change in the urban and architectonic planning of the reconstruction, especially the publications of journals about the modern Brazilian architecture. Nowadays, the reconstructed city Royan is an example for the invention for a modern ›coastal style‹, balnéaire modern, which is also called ›1950s style‹ or style 50’. The process of reconstruction of this small resort proves to be an extraordinary object of research about the significance of culture and role models as part of every creative urban and architectural process.

Um acervo, uma coleção e três problemas: a Coleção Jacques Pilon da Biblioteca da FAUUSP

RESUMO Este artigo examina a constituição do Acervo de Projetos de arquitetura da Biblioteca da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo (FAUUSP), o tratamento da Coleção Jacques Pilon e os rendimentos do projeto de arquitetura como fonte documental a partir de três questões interligadas: a constituição do campo arquitetônico no Brasil; a história de São Paulo e sua arquitetura; e a contribuição dos arquitetos estrangeiros para a construção da cidade entre 1930 e 1960. A partir da abordagem de novas e velhas fontes de pesquisa, procura-se articular a história da arquitetura com outros campos do conhecimento nem sempre a ela relacionados, mas que juntos podem contribuir para uma leitura mais complexa da produção arquitetônica e para os esforços de revisão da historiografia da arquitetura moderna no Brasil.

Os "pequenos" conjuntos Cecap derivados de Guarulhos e Jundiaí: uma análise comparativa

Resumo O Conjunto Habitacional Zezinho Magalhães Prado, em Guarulhos, SP, projetado por Vilanova Artigas, Fábio Penteado e Paulo Mendes da Rocha, desempenha papel de projeto seminal. Como no interior do estado foram desenvolvidos conjuntos que seguiram os conceitos aplicados em Guarulhos, a pesquisa buscou verificar em que medida aconteceram as reproduções nos conjuntos de Jundiaí, Marília e Mogi-Guaçu, estes em menor escala e em diferentes contextos. Também buscou verificar o aprimoramento das soluções projetuais. Por meio das visitas, da análise dos projetos e das informações reunidas, foi possível identificar elementos nos projetos e construídos de fato, que foram graficamente representados e reunidos em quadros comparativos. A análise comparativa buscou verificar a relação entre os projetos e a construção dos conjuntos habitacionais. A semelhança entre os conjuntos de Jundiaí, Marília e Mogi-Guaçu reforça a hipótese de utilização de um modelo com adequação ao lugar de implantação. O registro "dos pequenos" conjuntos Cecap de Marília e Mogi-Guaçu contribui para a disseminação deste importante momento da arquitetura brasileira.

INVENTÁRIO DOS BENS CULTURAIS RELATIVOS AO PLANO DE AÇÃO DO GOVERNO CARVALHO PINTO (1959-1963)

O inventário desta documentação revela as diretrizes e ações de um importante Plano de Governo nunca antes perscrutado. O Plano de Ação do Governo Carvalho Pinto (1959-1963) – PAGE, como era conhecido – teve por objetivo a criação de uma tecnocracia democrática para racionalizar o serviço público e promover o desenvolvimento do Estado de São Paulo, cujos investimentos foram estruturados em três setores: 1- melhoria das condições do Homem, que incluía as áreas de educação, cultura e pesquisa; justiça e segurança; saúde pública e assistência social, e sistemas de água e esgoto; 2- infraestrutura, abrangendo energia; ferrovias; rodovias; pontes municipais; aeroportos, portos e navegação; e 3- expansão agrícola. Esses investimentos resultaram em mais de mil projetos, envolvendo cerca de 160 arquitetos, que nunca foram estudados no seu conjunto. Não mais que uma dezena é conhecida pela notoriedade de seus autores e ainda assim quase nunca relacionada ao PAGE. Dispersas em centenas de municípios do estado de São Paulo, essas obras têm sua documentação também espalhada por diversos arquivos públicos: IPESP; FECE; CPOS; SEF-USP; secretarias da Agricultura e da Saúde, além dos arquivos dos próprios arquitetos. Periódicos especializados, a grande imprensa e os depoimentos dos vários envolvidos têm revelado aspectos desconhecidos e importantes para a restituição do processo. O inventário, que vem sendo realizado sob a coordenação do IAU-USP em parceria com a FAU-USP, com apoio da Fapesp e do Condephaat, tem reunido extensa e diversificada documentação inédita que contribui ao estudo da arquitetura moderna brasileira e abre inúmeras oportunidades de pesquisa e de revisão da história desse período.

Architectural Conservation in Brazilian Architecture and Urban Design Undergraduation Courses: The Teaching Disarticulations between Theory and Project Practice

In the last two decades, discussions and methods of architectural conservation design have become more and more available in Brazil. However, in spite of this aparent development, heritage preservation still faces a minor impact over the general curricula of Brazilian schools of architecture and urban design, provoking specific disarticulations of theory and practice in built heritage conservation education. This article aims to discuss these issues based on contemporary studies on higher education and recent recommedations proposed for architectural conservation education, addressing the need for awareness of preservation as a potential field for architectural creation.

Brasília: Life Beyond Utopia

Brasília is renowned the world over for its realisation of a visionary Modernist plan, designed by Brazilian architect and planner Lúcio Costa (1902–98). The reality of the city's design and its development, as explained by architect, author and academic researcher Thomas Deckker, is, however, much more complex. Contrary to public perception, Brasília falls a long way short of being ‘a unified city’, though it is one that has prospered with a growing population and stronger economy than other Brazilian cities.

An environmental and social approach in the modern architecture of Brazil: The work of Lina Bo Bardi

The architecture of Brazil, which has recently been in the focus with major events (World Cup and Olympics) holds a particular place in Latin America's architecture and is known for its bold modernism. One of the most remarkable Brazilian architects in the 20th Century was Italian émigré Lina Bo Bardi (born Rome 1914-died São Paulo 1992). This article first looks at the regional diversity in modern Brazilian architecture and then at the ways in which Bo Bardi's sustainable and socially-conscious design is informed by regionalism. Regions are defined through their local materials, tectonics and particular typologies, and the architectural character defining regional spaces, in turn, shapes, retains and enhances social identity. It is timely to reassess the diverse work of Bo Bardi within Latin-America's modernism. Arriving in Brazil in 1946, Bo Bardi was, as well as an architect, a furniture designer, urbanist, political activist, writer and curator. Previous studies have sought to identify the architects and theorists involved in the making of the modern cultural identity of Brazil, and the mechanisms that created such identity, from Lucio Costa to Oscar Niemeyer. Bo Bardi's work marks the beginning of sustainable design within Brazilian modern architecture; especially the adaptive re-use projects in Salvador, Bahia, identify the beginning of a new approach to heritage and urban renewal. Therefore, in this article I ask: what exactly is the contribution and role of the work of Bo Bardi in Brazilian modernism? And: discussing regional identity in the Brazilian context, how is such local character expressed?

Automation in Luxury Hotel Architecture in Brazil and Argentina: An Overview of the Uses of Technology in Hotels in Latin American Contexts

AbstractThe main purpose of this research was to interpret the use of information technologies in space (and specifically, in the space of "luxury" hotel architecture in Brazil and Argentina), as luxury hotels, as an empirical hypothesis, can be seen as one of the precursors in the use of automation in buildings. To this end, there was a "cross-referencing" of this empiricism with a bibliographical survey and its due analysis, characterizing this as an exploratory study. It was concluded that the luxury hotels in the two aforementioned countries make very little use of the technological equipment offered; emphasizing the fact that the bulk of the investments are on automated security equipment, with very little being invested in the comfort of guests. Even so, this hotel management has proven to be a reference for other manifestations of architecture, whether civil housing or institutional.

O desafio da conservação dos acervos particulares de arquitetos modernos: o caso do Inventário Janete Costa

<p>Conservar a vasta documentação iconográfica produzida pelos arquitetos modernos é um tema essencial da conservação da arquitetura, tendo em vista o rápido desaparecimento dos exemplares construídos. Essa documentação sofre um sério risco com a dissolução dos escritórios, após a morte ou aposentadoria dos seus titulares, considerando o pequeno porte dos escritórios brasileiros e a pesada responsabilidade imputada aos familiares. Este artigo relata a experiência da realização do inventário da obra da arquiteta Janete Costa (1932-2008), que contribuiu decisivamente nos campos da arquitetura de interiores, design de produtos, intervenções em edifícios históricos, na produção e divulgação do artesanato brasileiro, com uma vasta obra não apenas no Nordeste, mas em várias cidades brasileiras. Com o falecimento da arquiteta surgiu a necessidade de acolher seu acervo na sede do Recife, material antes distribuído nos escritórios que mantinha no Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo. Este acervo, agora reunido no Recife, compreende plantas, fotos, revistas, slides, documentos, maquetes, material gráfico de exposições e vídeos. O projeto do inventário inclui a limpeza, organização, conservação divulgação de suas principais obras em um site. A equipe multidisciplinar foi formada por arquitetos pesquisadores, arquitetos especializados em interiores e consultores na área de informação e de webdesign. </p>

Questions on space and intersections in the historiography of modern Brazilian architecture

Der vorliegende Text befasst sich von einem raumlichen Ansatz aus mit einem besonderen Kapitel der Geschichtsschreibung. Thema ist die Dekonstruktion der von ihrem Hauptverfechter, dem Architekten Lucio Costa gepragten Erzahlung zur modernen Architektur Brasiliens. Die Untersuchung folgt drei unterschiedlichen Strangen: Der erste betrifft den Kontext, aus dem heraus sich diese Darstellungsweise der modernen Architektur Brasiliens entwickeln konnte bzw. die Stellung Lucio Costas in den 1930er Jahren, einer Phase umfassender kultureller Umbruche unter der Diktatur des Estado Novo (1937-1945). Der zweite wendet sich dem kulturgeografischen Bereich zu und untersucht Costas Geschichtskonzept sowie seine Verwendung der Begriffe Transfer, Austausch und Dialog, zum einen im Bereich zeitgenossische Kultur, zum anderen zwischen Vergangenheit und historischer Gegenwart. Costas Bemuhungen darum, die nationale Identitat zu starken, stehen den vom Wesen her supranationalen Aussagen amerikanischer Wissenschaftler wie George Kubler und Robert Chester Smith zur lateinamerikanischen Kunst und Architektur gegenuber. Abschliesend wird ‒ in der Tradition raumtheoretischer Uberlegungen Georg Simmels und Martin Bubers aus dem ersten Viertel des 20. Jahrhunderts ‒ als dritter Aspekt der Gedanke eines Dialogs der Kulturen eingefuhrt.

Dis/Solution: Lina Bo Bardi’s Museu de Arte de São Paulo

The year 2014 marked the centenary of the birth of Roman-born Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi. Among the best known of Lina’s many contributions to Brazilian modernism is Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). Begun in 1957 and opened in 1968, MASP flouted European museological and museographical conventions, dissolving structural, temporal and hierarchical boundaries. Lina’s expressive architectonic forms and revolutionary exhibition scheme allowed the works in the MASP collection to literally stand on their own as objects liberated completely from chronological, connoisseurial and scholarly classification systems. Lina designed MASP to provoke ‘reactions of curiosity and investigation’ by redefining notions of space and form within and beyond the context of the museum as mausoleum, archive and treasury. This collaborative analysis examines the philosophical, theoretical, practical and formal elements of what John Cage purportedly characterized as ‘the architecture of freedom’. Toward that end, this article situates MASP and its collections within broader historical discourses of museum practice to reveal the transgressive genius of Lina’s architectural and museal gestures. We conclude with a discussion of current debates surrounding the conventionalization of MASP’s exhibition protocols, considered in the contexts of conservation and proposed changes to the structure and its immediate urban setting.

Questions on space and intersections in the historiography of modern Brazilian architecture

This text proposes a spatial approach to a particular historiographical analysis: the deconstruction of the Brazilian modern architecture narrative as advanced by its main proponent architect, Lúcio Costa. The analysis is advanced from three different perspectives. The first concerns the place from within the Brazilian modern architecture narrative occupied by Lúcio Costa during the 1930s, a period of major cultural unrest under the Estado Novo dictatorship (1937-1945). The second invokes the field of cultural geography, scrutinising Costa’s understanding of the concept of history and the way he understood and used the notions of transferences, exchanges and dialogues both in the cultural space of the time and between the past and the historical present. Costa’s commitments to the assertion of a national identity emerge in contrast to the supranational character of North American scholars George Kubler and Robert Chester Smith’s formulations on Latin American art and architecture. The third and last perspective introduces the idea of cultural dialogue, following the tradition of the spatial theoretical formulations developed by Georg Simmel and Martin Buber during the first quarter of the twentieth century.

Isolamento sonoro aéreo de partições verticais de um apartamento em Maceió-AL Brasil

A arquitetura brasileira tem apresentado constantes mudanças nas técnicas e nos materiais de construção com reflexos na qualidade das construções. No caso do isolamento sonoro de habitações, o resultado, em geral, tem sido negativo. Com o advento da norma de desempenho de edificações habitacionais, a NBR 15575, publicada no ano de 2013 pela Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas - ABNT e que estabelece os requisitos mínimos para os diversos elementos de construção em favor do desempenho dos edifícios, as empresas de construção civil terão que adequar a nova construção aos limites e aos requisitos estabelecidos pela norma. O objetivo geral deste trabalho é avaliar, por meio de medições de campo, o nível de isolamento sonoro (ruído aéreo) de duas partições verticais da sala de estar de um apartamento em Maceió-AL-Brasil através de dois parâmetros estabelecidos na NBR 15575: a Diferença Padronizada de Nível Ponderada (D’nTw) e a Diferença Padronizada de Nível Ponderada a 2 m de distância da fachada (D’2m,nT,w). Verificou-se que os níveis de isolamento sonoro aéreo encontrados são inferiores aos recomendados pela norma, demonstrando a insuficiência, do ponto de vista acústico, dos materiais utilizados na composição das paredes. É clara a necessidade, não apenas, de avaliar e monitorar o desempenho acústico, mas também de maior preocupação com estratégias de projeto e de intervenções construtivas que proporcionem aos usuários condições adequadas de conforto e de privacidade.

Natural Ventilation by Air Captors and Extractors Sheds in Hospitals in Brazil: Wind Tunnel Measurements

Natural ventilation is an efficient design strategy for the passive cooling of buildings, especially in tropical countries such as Brazil. Among the ventilation strategies, sheds can be highlighted. These structures consist of roof openings that work as air captors or extractors depending on their location in relation to the prevailing wind directions. The hospitals of the Sarah Network, designed by the Brazilian architect Joao Filgueiras Lima, Lele, are worldwide known for using these elements to improve natural ventilation. This paper analyses the natural ventilation performance of sheds for air collecting and extracting in two Sarah hospitals located in the cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. In each building, the sheds were analyzed for air extracting and collecting. The analyses were carried out by reduced physical models in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel. The wind velocity was measured at external and internal points of the buildings, using hot-wire anemometers. The results show that the wards in Rio de Janeiro hospital are 17% more ventilated than the ones in the Salvador hospital. However, this difference occurs not only because of the collecting sheds but also because of set of openings and the configuration of the covering in hospitals in Rio de Janeiro.