space laboratory for architectural
research and design
Steffen Lehman
Professor Dr.-Ing., Chair in Architecture, Brisbane (Australien)
Keywords
Postcolonial Context, International Modernism, Immigration, Subtropical Climate, Critical Regionalism, International Brutalism, Tectonic, Poetics of Construction, Globalisation, Dynamic Regionalism, Anti-globalist Movement.
Abstract
To better understand architecture's relationship with cultural identity and the notion of Regionalism, this paper explores the regional component in the development of modern architecture in Brazil, and the question of what might be defined as an 'uniquely Brazilian' architectural language. Modernism quickly flourished in Brazil in the 1940s, a prerequisite for the construction of Brasilia, the new capital that was - despite being so far away from Europe - built in the Brazilian hinterland strictly to the principles of CIAM and the Charta of Athens. Tragically, the completion of Brasilia (1960) coincided with the era when Classical Modernism and CIAM had just reached a crisis point and, eventually, were unable to continue. Twentieth century architecture in Brazil has many facets, from the first emergence of Modernism in the postcolonial (Indigenous and Portuguese) context with the pivotal, heroic works of Costa, Warchavchik, and Levi (the first generation of modern Brazilian architects) and the fascinating, flamboyant buildings by Reidy and Niemeyer in Rio de Janeiro (creations that express so well the spirit of the people of Rio), to the highly individual works of Artigas and Bo Bardi in São Paulo and Salvador. With the shift of focus in the 1950s from Rio to São Paulo, we can also observe the transformation from 'Modernismo Carioca' to the 'Brutalismo Paulistano'.
Previous studies on Brazil concentrated mainly on the first era that is also called 'the golden years of Brazilian architecture', which ended around 1955. This paper aims to build on the existing research by expanding the time frame and further widening the focus into the 1960s, an era encompassing the military dictatorship starting in 1964. By doing so, the study investigates the well-known, but usually oversimplified debate of International Modernism versus Regionalism. The author suggests that there were always both movements working simultaneously, with Regionalism being equally dynamic - an interplay between International Modernism and Regionalism. The transfer of ideas - like transcultural injections - the importation of European culture, such as Classical Modernism, into emerging countries such as Brazil, Mexico, or India, is a dynamic, not static phenomenon. Migrants, who came from all over the world to Brazil, influenced local architecture with their knowledge, habits and diverse cultures, so that Modernism merged into something different and unique, fusing with regional and local identity. Modernism was adopted into a regional context, transformed and further modified by the requirements of the tropical climate. In times of globalisation, such a process of localisation is now generally being rediscovered as an important theme of research. Recent studies sought to determine the architects and theorists involved in the making of the cultural identity of Brazil, and which mechanisms created such notion of cultural identity in architecture. This paper now asks the question: are there any examples of regional identity in modern architecture in the postcolonial, Brazilian context, and how is such local character expressed? Ironically, the importation of the heroic Avant-garde into the developing world reflected back to Europe soon after, following a regional reshaping of the ideas from the Bauhaus.
The final part of the paper is dedicated to drawing appropriate conclusions. One conclusion is that there is no identity outside its context, as the local and global exists side-by-side, intertwined with each other. There is a certain paradox in the fact that an anti-globalist movement like Regionalism seeks to extend itself worldwide; another that regional identities, such as in São Paulo or in Salvador, are dynamic and still evident even in times of globalisation - if one is searching for them.
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Vilanova J. Artigas. Born 1915 in Curitiba, South Brazil, to Italian parents, died in 1985 in São Paulo. In 1936 to 38 he was in brief partnerships with Oswaldo Bratke and Gregori Warchavchik, much influenced by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. From 1953 on he travelled several times to the Soviet Union and joined the Communist Party. 1962 saw reform of the architectural education at USP, but during 1969-80, the military dictatorship took his professorship and civil rights away. He built around 200 projects and is the founder of the 'Escola Paulista'. House Porto (1968), in São Paulo. Like previously in his own house, Artigas demonstrates a particular tendency towards 'Tropical Modernism', reminding us of the important role of the garden and tropical vegetation. He is playing with the boundaries of inside and outside, taking advantage of the climate. The upper floor is a modern box floating above, resting on only 4 columns. All the personal rooms are located on this floating upper floor, contained and united inside the modern box structure, and accessed via a ramp. (Photos: Artigas Archive). |
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Fig. 03: Boat club Santa Paulo (1961) by Vilanova Artigas: a long, bridge-like concrete roof touches the ground only at 8 points. The roof slab appears to float above the terrain, which creates an open spatial continuum underneath. A new synthesis of landscape and building emerged, that was unimaginable before. Interestingly, since the mid-50s, Reyner Banham's British Brutalism developed in various countries simultaneously, into an International Brutalism, when architects like Kenzo Tange in Japan, Alison and Peter Smithson in the UK and Paul Rudolph in Yale started to work at the same time in a similar style and sharing the same attitude. (Photo: Artigas Archive). |
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FAU university building for USP (1961-65), by Vilanova Artigas: wide gentle ramps connecting all six floors, are open towards the central atrium. The roof is a great single span and is regularly perforated with square skylights. The building has in the upper levels no windows and no doors. There is an emphasis on the structural solution and on raw materiality, like in Le Corbusier's early Brutalist language, for instance the Unite d'Habitation (1952). Here too, a piloti structure avoids the building to occupy the ground. (Photos: Steffen Lehmann). |
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 Fig. 06:
Sketch by Lina Bo Bardi (1958), for the design of a simple timber house using vernacular construction methods and local materials. Lina Bo Bardi. Born in 1914 in Rome, Italy, she immigrated in 1946 with her husband - the art historian Pietro Maria Bardi - to Brazil, leaving post-war Italy behind. She died in 1992 in São Paulo. Previously Lina worked with Gio Ponti in Milan and was the editor of an interior magazine. In 1946 Pietro Maria Bardi was appointed museum director of São Paulo's MASP. After arriving in Brazil, Lina fell soon in love with the regional culture of Northern Bahia; from 1959 to 1968, she spent most of her time in Salvador, renovating several Baroque buildings. Calling it 'anchoring Modernism in the region', she organised many exhibitions of Bahian cultural artefacts. During this time, she became more Brazilian than the Brazilian people themselves. Both architects, Artigas and Bo Bardi, having a strong regional interest - but at the same time being modernistic architects. (Image: Instituto Lina Bo Bardi). |
Fig. 07: 
MASP Museum of Modern Art (1957-68), the building as a super structure - hanging from 4 massive pilotis - covering a public space. Today, it is hard to believe that this abstract project is by the same architect as her later works. Lina Bo Bardi's MASP museum and Artigas' FAU university building, both rigorously tectonic works, introduced a new monumentality in São Paulo's public architecture. (Photo: Steffen Lehmann). |
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 Fig. 08 and Fig. 09:
Cultural and sports centre SESC-Pompeia, São Paulo (1977-86), making use of a former factory and extending it with a 'beton brut' tower. Lina Bo Bardi also designed the simple timber furniture; a sensitive renovation and highly popular community place. (Photos: Steffen Lehmann). |
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Fig. 10 and Fig. 11:
Projeto Barroquinha, Salvador (1986), Lina Bo Bardi in collaboration with the musician Gilberto Gil, in the run down baroque city centre. Renovations of the Casa do Benin and Casa do Olodum, both cultural centres for the Bahian-African culture. Both renovations were conscious of, and sympathetic to, their context and revitalised local methods of tectonics, without being folkloristic. (Photos: Steffen Lehmann). |
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References
Uni/RAIA Lecture 