1st Edition

Architecture as Civil Commitment: Lucio Costa's Modernist Project for Brazil

By Gaia Piccarolo Copyright 2019
226 Pages
by Routledge

226 Pages
by Routledge

226 Pages
by Routledge

Architecture as Civil Commitment analyses the many ways in which Lucio Costa shaped the discourse of Brazilian modern architecture, tracing the roots, developments, and counter-marches of a singular form of engagement that programmatically chose to act by cultural means rather than by political ones. Split into five chapters, the book addresses specific case-studies of Costa’s professional... Read more


Foreword Fernando Lara





Introduction









  1. The start of a militant career: the direction of the School of Fine Arts




  2. The young director of the School of Fine Arts



    A discreet revolution



    The Salão dos Tenentes



    Report of a failure







  3. Reasons of the new architecture: Gustavo Capanema’s grands travauxs




  4. A history to reconsider



    The great public assignments and Capanema’s "dossier"



    New architecture, between theory and practice



    Le Corbusier and the appel à l’Autorité



    Negotiations and lost opportunities







  5. A programme for national architecture: the years of the Estado Novo




  6. Struggles and compromises



    Toward a State architecture



    A genealogy of modern Brazilian architecture



    A rising intellectualisation



    Modernism and national heritage







  7. A strategy of mediation: between the CIAM and the SPHAN




  8. Shaping national heritage



    Dealing with historical pre-existence



    The colonial roots of Brazilian architecture



    Baroque and national personality



    Brazilian houses







  9. Shaping the true Machine Age: art, city, landscape




Parisian experiences



Art and the emancipation of the masses



In search of a new monumentality



A maquisard in urban planning



Landscape and urbanism



A new humanism

Biography

Gaia Piccarolo is Adjunct Professor of History of Contemporary Architecture and Landscape at the Politecnico di Milano and member of the editorial staff of the architectural magazine Lotus International. She received her PhD in History of Architecture and Urban Planning from Politecnico di Torino in 2010, with a thesis on Lucio Costa’s public charges during the Vargas Era. She curated several exhibitions and published extensively on contemporary architecture and urban planning, with special reference to Brazilian modernism and the circulation of ideas and models between Europe and the Americas. Her research has been presented in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Brazil in the framework of international seminars and conferences.