le corbusier is bac k in rio de janeiro. pages from modern architecture in latin america-3

8/18/2019 LE CORBUSIER is BAC K in RIO de JANEIRO. Pages From Modern Architecture in Latin America-3

1/4

I

I

of

he more immediate and pra

gmat

ic solution to

the

material needs of he population.

By express ing a fu nctional and

mat

erial hon-

esty, O'Gorman argued, archi tecture expressed the

beauty and harmony

of

the scientific world itself and

would also be, therefore, an expression of ts present.

However, in a dialectical mome nt of his discussion

O'Gorman described the poss ible problems

of

tionalism: becoming too dogmatic or becoming the

banner offashion.

Hi

s impli

cat

ion

wa

s th

at

functional

i

st

architecture could become aes theticized and then

ideologically, propose to solve n

ew

spiritual necess

i-

'

ties? It was, ultimatel

y,

that very sty

li

zation of fun

c

tionalism in Mexico and its use for speculative h

ousing

that would lead O'Gorman to abandon architecture in

1936.

Over aesthetic requirements, architecture had to re

spond directly to the objective necessities

of

he

a

I th me.

no er words, it had to apply the presen t technical

and rational structures to solve the given problems

of

the present. What wa s importan t fcor O'G

. orman wa s to

seek effiCJ ent and inexpensive architectur al solutions

that repres_en ted the current conditions and material s

of p_oduchon and exp

re

ssed the drive toward rational-

JZatwn and mternationalization O'G ,

· orman s pos1tions

were summed up in the following way:

The

architecture that some call

~ u n t

1

.

1ona

or ratio-

nal and others German, Swedish, International,

or

Mode

rn c

reatmg

co

nfus1on w1h so

many

names-we

will c

all

techn

1c

al archi t

ec

ture w1

h

the

goal

of

clearly de·

fining it

in

order to understand that 1s a1m is

to

e use

fu

for mankmd 1n a strai

ghtf

orwa rd and precise manner.The

difference between a tec

hn

1ca l arch1ect and

an

academ

c

or

artis

t1

c architect

will

be perfectly clear

The techn

icala

·

chitect

IS

useful to the

ma

y

and the academic is use·

ful

to a minority. The first

to

serve the

maJor

ity ofneedy

i

nd

ividuals who only have matena l needs and

to

whom

spiritual necess

it

ies are not essential.

The

second

to

serve

a minority

of

people who enjoy the profits

of

he land and

industry. Architecture that serves mankind or archi te

ctur

e

that serves money.

w·th

· t.h

m e parameters of economy, construction, and

l

abor

inves tment, O'Go

rman

saw functional architec·

ture as responding to the interests and needs of

h

e

masses, since its very efficiency allowed

for a

greater

number of buildings to be built for the same amount

of money, materia ls,

and

work needed to build more

ornate and artistic on es .

FU

R

THER READING

Carranza A ·

• gamst a New Architectur

e:

Juan O

Gonnnan and

the Disillusionment

of

Mod

ern ism, in rchitecture as

Revolution.

O'Gorman,

juan O Gorman .

Rodriguez Prampol · j

lnJ

,

uan

0

Gorman: rquitecto

ypintor

.

TE HNOLOGY

MEX ICO

L COR BUSIER IS BAC K IN RI O DE JANEIRO

BRAZIL

I N 192 9 , LE

CO

RB U S ER traveled to Argentina,

Brazil, Uruguay, a

nd

Paraguay in search of opportuni

ties (see 1929-b entry). The bol

dness of

he Americas

seemed much more open

to

his ideas. Despite his

bes t efforts, years passed and nothing materialized.

The much-awa ited opportunity came seven years later

wh

en the Brazilian government, by means

of

ts Minis

teri o da

d u c a ~ a o

e Saude Publica (MESP; Ministry of

Education and Public Health) invited him to return as

a consultant on two projects: a campus for the Univer

sity of Brazil and a new building for the ministry.

Crea ted in 1931, the MESP was part ofGerulio

Vargas's strategy to modernize Brazil but also to cen

tralize in Rio de Janeiro the decision-making process

that had previously been under the purview of each

state.

1

With the app

ointment of

Gustavo Capan

em

a to

lead the ministry in 1934, a group of ntellectualscon

nected to the modernist avant-garde were hired to as

sist hi m. Carlos D

rummond

de

Andrade-Capanema

's

chief-of-staff

nd Rodrigo Melo Franco were there

from the beginning. Other prominent individuals who

surrounded him included Mario de Andrade, Can-

dido Portinari , Manuel Bandeira, Heitor Villa-Lobos,

Cecflia Meireles, and Vinicius de Moraes. Lucio Costa

would soon join them in 1937 when the S e r v i ~ o do

Patrimonio Hist6rico e Artfstico Nacional (SPHAN;

Brazilian Conservation Service,

now

known as IPHAN)

was

created.

In 1935 , the MESP held a competition for its new

headquarters.

Th

e neocolonial Ma rajoara-style desi

gn

by Arquimedes Memoria was chosen as the winner.

2

Min

ister Capanema and his close collaborators, Drum

mond and Melo Franco, in particular, were not happy

with the choice of a traditional-looking building. In

contrast to Jose Vasconcelos in Mexico a decade earlier

(see

92

2

entry), Capanema believed that

modem ar

chitecture perfectly embodied the task of modernizing

the Brazilian educational system. More to the point,

since his own defense of universal public education

was tepid, at best, his decision wa s based more on the

influence

of

his close collaborators, who werea

siastic defenders of modernism. Whether or no

nema was sold on modern architecture, it is cle

he wanted the MES P to convey an image of he

and not of he past. With the results of he com

voided by

the

government, the commission for

sign

of

he new building was awarded

to

Lucio

To face the fierce criticism that would ensue

ing the ENBA debacle

of

ive years earlier; see

entry), Costa brought together a team of he be

modernist designers in Rio de Janeiro to work

MESP building: Alfonso Eduardo Reidy, Carlos

Jorge Moreira, and Emani Vasconcellos. Sensin

opportunity and seeking further support, Costa

gested that the Brazilian government invite Le

sier to join the team. Since Brazilian legislation

(and still does not) allow foreigners to be respo

for architectural projects without a lengthy pro

diploma registration (which, by the wa

y,

Le

Cor

did not have), the Swiss-French master was hir

give six lectures and to work as a consultant f

MESP building as well as

fo

r the new campus o

Un iversity of Brazil , with the understanding th

would be the lead designer.

3

During the five weeks he stayed in Rio de Ja

Le Corbusier worked

on

both projects but seem

more enthusiastic about the university campus

ably thinking that it would give him more visibi

Corbusier's lesser involvement with the design

MESP building was also based on his dislike fo

proposed location, an urban blo ck behind the c

of Santa Luzia at Esplanada do

Ca

stelo, a new a

open by the removal

of he hill

of

he same nam

1903 entry). Le Corbusier lobbied strongly for a

the seashore, close to the airport, and next to w

fonso Reidy's Museum

of

Modem Art would ev

be built in 1953- The consultant insisted on de

ing for this alternative site,

and

his sketches sho

low horizontal building facing Guanabara Bay a

arloaf Mountain while turning its back to the cit


2/4

glass far;ade and the p lot s are there, but Le Corbus ier 's

proposal is very much disconn ec ted from the city fab

ric, and it appears to be

mor

e of a s

how

case building to

be

seen

from the

ai

rport and the ocea n liner

s

n other

words, to be seen from abroad.

Soon after

Le

Corbusier departed for France, Capa

nema ordered the team of Brazilian arch itec ts to forge t

abo

ut

a seashore site

and resume

the des ign of the

MES

P building on i ts original, in tended site whi le

delibera tions on th e uni versity

cam

p

us

project took

place. Not surprisingly, the comm ittee com

pose

d of he

academic fa culty re jec ted Le Corbus ier

's

plan in favor

of hat by Marcello

Pi

acen tini. The Italian architect

delivered his design in 1938. but it, too, was ultimately

rejected . By then , the battle between

modernis

ts

and

academics was being decided in favor of he former,

and Le Corbusi

er

was indi rectly respons ible. H is fi

ve

weeks

in

Rio de Janeiro were

enoug

h to transform

the

local team.

As th

e I9JOS progressed, the

modern

istas were

able to

ge

t m

ore

commissions a

nd

to align th emselves

wi th a governm en t that needed a

modern far;a

de to

showcase its ac

hi

evements. Costa and h is tea m were

part of his equation. The most imp ortant piece of this

team, however, was just about to be discovered.

Al

though Costa m ight have been a las t-m inute

.

mod ernis

t, Reidy, Lello, Moreira , and Vasconcellos

had

all been followers

of

Le Corbusier since they

\\ere

s

tud en

ts. The great transformation on the team s

the rise of an unpa id intern called Oscar Ribeiro deAl

meid

a

iemey

er Soares,

who

,

de

spite being the

same

age

as

the others, had entere

d the E

BA

later (r929-

1934)· In 1936. se nsing the opportunity he begged

Costa for an interns hip in the MESP and

university

campu s projects.

As a r

esu

lt,

Niemeye

r

and

Le Corbusier

would

s ta

rt

a re l

at

i

on

s

hip

th at would continue until

the

lat·

ter 's de

ath

in 1

965. Th

e myth is that

e

Corbusier

was enchanted

by

icmeyer 's free-hand drawings and

asked

him

to

as

sis t in all

prese

n tations. This

tale

is

cor·

rob

o rated by a l

ette

r from Le Corbusier

to Costa dated

November 2 1 1

936, in

which

he

asks

uHow

are

the

valuable Osca r

an

d his

beautif

ul perspec

tives doing?

•

Costa's Dece

mber

3'·

'9J6 , reply s tates that · oscar

was

mo ve

d by the refe rence to his drawings

and ac-

cord

ing

to Costa, was doing several beautiful things.

Six months had passed between Niemeyer being an

unp aid intern to be ing the su bject of praise by Le Cor

busi

er

and Costa.

Le

ss explored by the histor iography is the question

of why Le Corbusie r relied on Niemeyer and not

on

others. Js it poss ible t hat Oscar Niemeyer was already

Le Corbusier's pro 1 h .

Publi .

po

sa or t e

Mmistry

of Ed

uc

ation and

c H

ea

lth, Rio d e Janeiro , 1936 .

A RT

BR

ZIL

Lucio Costa e t a l., north of the Minist ry of Educ

and Public Health, Ro de Jane iro, 194 5


3/4

Bo

an outstanding designer at that time? If that is the

case, why did

he

not win any honors at

ENBA

or gar

ner anyone's attention before his five weeks with Le

Corbusier? More plausible is that Niemeyer, having

entered the ENBA in 1929 and without much exposure

to

art and architecture, never actua Jy learned academic

drawing. His "loose" sketches wouJd s

ur

ely not have

attracted the attention of he conservative faculty that

took over after Costa's remova l in

1931.

His drawings

aggress iv

e and for

ce

ful in his designs, something that

he

continued to exercise until his death in 2012.'

With Le Cor busier gone and with Ca panema

'sor·

der s to work on the first site, iemeyer rose to the

fore-

front of he team

t first timidl

y,

as when he showed

some sketches to Carlos Leao but threw them

away e·

fore Cos

ta

arrived. As the design work progressed, the

horizontal volum e o riginally proposed by Le Corbusier

b

ecame

a tall

ve

rtical slab in the final design. The

slab,

in turn, subdivides the urban block while a lower in·

te rlocking ma

ss

perpend icula rly spans the width

of

he

site a l

ong

its east

ern

edge.

The

tower houses the

offices

of the mini s

try,

while the l

ower

volume is

composed

of

an auditor

ium and an open gaUery. In

the tower, the

ground-floor

pi/otis

proposed by the European visitor

for his sche me would be elongated to 33

feet

(tom),

making for a much mor e elegant and l i g h t ~ composi·

tion (and seem ingly allowing the lower mass to slide

under

it). Th e co

lumn

s, however, are clearly

bigger

than

s tructura lly required for the building but, in a

more

cla

ss

ical and traditional way (as part

of

Costa's

Beaux·

Arts training), are compo si

ti

ona J y proportional to

the

space that they open up and the overall height and

pro·

portion s of the building. These overscaJed pi/otis

make

the entrance hall m uch more monumentaJ while allow·

ing for the interconnect ion between the exterior plazas

and the whole c

omp

os ition to be more permeable.

O::J

Plan

and longitudinal section of he Ministryof Edu r d

Public Health. ca ion an

were being valued for the very first time and being

val

ued by one of he most important contemporary archi

tects:

Le

Corbusier.

In an attempt to brush aside the grand iose nar

rative

of

iemeyer 's

di

scovery as written by

himse

lf

and Costa, what is clear is that Le Corbusier's compli

ments gave iemeyer the confidence to be m h

uc more

The M ESP, as one of he first modernist high-rise

buildings ever built, incorporates

Le

Corbusier's

five·

points syst

em

for a new architecture: free

f a ~ a d e

free

plan, ho rizontal windows, pi/otis and roof garden.

In addition, the two fully glazed are treated

differentJy to accommodate the tropicaJ climate: the

southern one, with an ob lique view of he ocean, is

transparent, while the northern one is protected by

horizontal m ovable bri

se

-soleil (sun screens) that pivot

on fixed concrete pan els. Th e use of his system was

later described

by

Le Corbusi

er

as an additional point

of

hi

s architectura l system. The brise-soleil it s

houJd

be noted, had already been u sed by Luis Nunes in

Recife (l934) and by the Roberto brothers (Mauricio,

Milton,

and

Marcelo; aka MMM Roberto) at the ABI

Building (

1

936-

1

938) a few blocks away.

5

As mov

able pa_rts, however, they gave the MESP building a

dynam1c quality th fi

• as e n s

were

adju

ste

d according

to the desired · d

VIews

an se

asons (lower or higher sun

angle),

whil

e the vertical panels that hold them pro·

tected

from the

afte

rnoon

g

lar

e.

ART

BRAZ

IL

Roberto Burle

Marx

,

ter

race garden at the Ministry

of

Education and Public Health,

Rio

de Janeiro, 1945·

ART

BR Z IL

Following Le Corbusier's advice, the Brazili

team incorporatedazulejo (traditiona l Portugue

murals as

prote

ction and decoration for the ma

external walls. Candido Portinari was hired

to

d

those as well as other interior murals. In additi

sculptures are scattered throughout, as the buil

aspired

to

become a total work of

art

and an op

lesson on modernism.

This

ambition for totali

t

further enhanced by the gardens designed by R

Burle Marx (see 1961en t

ry)

that include those o

ground-level plazas, on the terrace over the exh

tion

hall

and on

the roof

of

he building where

minister s offices wouJd

be

located. At ground l

the vegetation beds break up the two plazas and

etrate under the pi/otis in dialogue with the col

that rise like artificiaJ trunks from the ground.

terrace garden of he lower mass, Burle Marx c

one of

his

most

important early designs. Here,

beds

of

different flower species and their colora

are shaped into various curviJinear forms and p

terns that have the advantage of being visible fr

so

uth

-facing offices, turning it into a livingcan

concept that Burle Marx would develop through

life with undisputed mastery. At the rooflevel

o

tower, for the more sculptural forms of he min

offices, Burle Marx would create a more subdue

controlled garden space.

Ultimatel

y,

it was the gardens, as large setbac

linked the building

to

the modern urban fabric

b

viding a type of espite from the dense urban gri

traditional walls immediately adjacent

to

the pro

The modern composition with large setbacks an

meable ground floor under the elegant

pi/otis

hig

the insertion of a modernist building and its qua

within the traditional urban fabric

of Rio

de Jane

Given the changes that the Brazilian team en

the relationship with

Le

Corbusier became som

turbulent. In 1937. when Costa sent him the fina

drawings, he received compliments in response

wasn't until 1945, after the end of World

War

II,

Le

Corbusier saw pictures

of

he completed buil

He replied bitterly that he wasn't adequately pai

that

his

authorshjp

was

not properly acknowled

Corbusier was most likely reacting to the intern

success of Brazilian architecture and the memb

the MESP design team (such as Costa and Niem

who, for instance , were featured in the Museum

Modem Art's Brazil Builds exhibition (1943; see


4/4

entry) as well as throughout European magazines .

Costa replied sta ting that Le Corbusier's participation

had been acknowledged as a building inspired by Le

Co

rb u

si

er's

initial ske t

ches.

Cos ta was appalled later

to f ind that Le Corbusier publi sh ed new sketches,

drawn

over

ph ot

ograph

s

of

he

build

ing, as

if hey wer

e

process studies.

6

Des pite the l

ate

r turbulence, Niem eye r would

c.ontinue

to

be Le

Co rbu

sier 's d

evo

ted

di sc

ipl

e a t

time

s emphasizing

hi

s d eviatio ns

from th

e master's

h o d o x y

(as in

Pampulh

a;

see

1941 e ntry), o

th

er

tim es accommodating his

demand

s (as in the United

Nations building; see 1947-a box). N ie m eye r always

s tated,

~ m ~ e v e r

that he learned everything from Le

o r ~ u s m

1936.

Le

Co

rbu s ier 's influence on Brazil 's

arch

itectural m ode

rni

sm

would

be

furth

er

inflated

b

Br

azilian historiography

at

th

e

expense of

many

t h ~

actors or events. Mos tly based on Costa's

. . arguments

and pubhcatwns like Brazil Builds (1943) H

. . , , e n nque

Mmdlin

s Modern rchitecture in Braz

il

(1956) , and

Yve

s Bruand's Arquitetura contemporanea no Bras

il

(1981) , the founda tio

nal

myth of Brazi l's m odern archi

t e c ~ r e

was

es tablish ed

on

the ENBA's fru s

trated

refor

matiOn and

th

e consequent

contac

t wi th Le C b .

th

or

us1er

at e MESP building. This happe ned, o f cou rse, at

the expe

n se of the pion

eering

con t

rib

uti ons ofG .

Warch chik . . regon

av

'

Rino

L

eVI

, and Flavio de

Carvalh

o in

Sao

Paulo, to name a few.

.The

rea

li ty

is

much more

co

mpl

ex

. Th e works b

LUiz

Nunes in Re

c

if

e and

Warchavch

·k . S y

• In dO

Paulo

vis ited

Ri

o d e Ja n

ei

ro

in

193 1. Eve n th e struggle with

mo r

e

traditi

o na l o r

aca

dem ic a r

ch

itects (as defined

y

Co s ta) was fa r fro m bein g ove r a fter Le Corbusier 's

se

co

nd

vis it,

as

see n by

th

e res ults for the 1936 com·

p e

tition

for

th

e hea dq

ua

rters o f

th

e Finance Ministry

to be built a few bl

oc

ks a way from the MESP in Rio e

Ja n

eiro.

Th e winning entry

wa

s a modernist design by

Wladimir Alves d e

Sou

za

and

Eneas Silva (Oscar N

e·

meyer and

Jor

ge

Lea o w o n th e s econd prize). Minis

ter

Artur

de Souza Cos ta , h owever, was not happy with

th

e

des ig n

be

c

au se,

a

ccordin

g to

him

,

bank

ers and

finan·

cie rs would pre fe r

th

e s

olidity

of heavy walls over the

transpare n cy and lightn

ess of arge

glass panels. The

competition

was

canc

e lled,

and

a team led by engineer

Ary Fontoura de Azambu ja des

igned

a neoclassical

st ructure s

up p

o rted

by

a

se

rie s of Doric columns.

The

battle

would not end

until the

early 1940s

when

Niemey

e r d

es

ign ed the

Grande

Hotel in Ouro

Pre to and the Pampulha

building

s

in

Belo Horizonte

(see

1

94I

entry). By then , his design s deviated widely

from Le Co rbu

sier

by in corporating h istorical refer·

ences (Grande Hote l) and putting into question the

centrality of h e angle droit (right

angle;

Pampulha).

FURTHER READING

Andreoli and Forty,

Brazil s Mode

rn r

chitecture

Cavalcanti, When Braz il Wa s Mode

rn

a re

Important precedents

to

th

e

MESP

b ild . .

th

infl u

mg

, as Is

e ue nce

of

others like Fr

ank

Uoyd Wright, who

Cavalcanti

and Ca

ldeira, The

Rol

e of Modernists in the

.Esta

blishment

of Brazi

li

an Cultu ral Heritage.

GUJ

Uen, Modernism without Modernity

Lara

·o s

' ne tep Back, Two Steps Forward

.

ART BRAZIL

1936 A

THE KAVANAGH

BU ILD ING

IS F IN ISHED BECOMING

TH

E TALLEST SKYSCRAPER

IN LATIN AMERICA

a E ORE A R

PLANEs

became ubiquitous, no

matter

how

one arrived in Buenos Aires,

the

Kavanagh

Bu

ilding was

there to greet you. Coming

by

train,

the

Kavanagh would

be right

in

front as you left Retiro

Station

. Arriving

by

sea,

the 390-foot-high (119m) structure was visible from every

dock

of he

new Puerto Madero. For many years it was

the

tallest building in

South

America

and

tallest reinforced

concrete structure in

the

world.

Built in only fourteen

months

for Corina Kavanagh ,

a wealthy Argentine widow who sold

two (of

her many)

country estates

to

build a luxury

residence

in downtown

Buenos Aires, the Kavanagh is

home

to 105 no·expense

spared rental units

designed

for

the

wealthiest estancieros,

or Argentine landowners. The apartments utilized

the

latest in technological advances such as central air condi

t

io

ning and modern plumbing. The spacious bathrooms

were all completely finished in marble. Hardware details

were

cast in white

steel to

avoid interfering with

the

hand

crafted looks

of

he interiors.

Those

with

apartments on

the upper floors have exqu isite terrace gardens with views

of he river, parks, and the city.

Designed by the firm

of

he Uruguayan engineer Grego

rio Sanchez and the Argentine architects Ernesto Lagos

and

Luis

Marfa

de

Ia Torre,

the

Kavanagh is

the most

modern

of all buildings designed by the group. Before the Kava

nagh, they designed a similar Art Deco structure at the c

or

ner

ofC6rdoba and Libertad (1931)

and

were already experi

menting with modernism as seen

by the pi/otis

proposed

for the building at Libertador 3080

to be

so ld

as commer-

cia l space. For Corina Kavanagh, they designed an elegant

thi rty-story structure

that

takes full advantage of ts angular

co rner position and location on a small hill acro

ss

from

the

Plaza

San Martfn

to

further

empha

size its verticality.

As it rises, the building volume steps back ke the early

skysc rapers in New York, emphasizing its

character

and

sculptural forms rather than the maximization of loor-area

ratio, as was the case in Chicago. By stepping the volume,

the architects developed opportunities for several garden s

and balconies. Th irty percent

of

he units have so m e type

of balcony or open area that affords them beautiful views

of

he

city,

Puerto Madero, and

the elegant

neighborhood s

of Retiro and

Barrio Norte.

At the base, the build

ing's triangular plan is

completely occupied

by

an elaborate lobby. As

this is a residential sky-

scraper (in

con

tra

st

to

the large majority of ts

North American coun

terparts of he time), the

architects' main concern

was not maximizing day-

light nor developing

flex

ible

and

adaptable plans

but , rather the individu

alization of he access

points

to

the apartments.

Thu s, twelve elevators

are placed throughout

the

ma

ss and create

separate routes to the

dif-

ferent floors , minimizing

the interactions between

the

tenants as well as the

common spaces where

these could occur. For

herself, Corina Kavanagh

reserved the fourteenth

floor- the only apart

ment

to occupy a full

floor and have an area

close

to

7,000 square

feet (650 sq. m) .

Sanchez,

lago

s, and de

Ia

Kavanagh Building, Buen

1936

.

According

to historian jorge Francisco Liernur,

Kavanagh is the best examp

le

of a reactionary mo

ism : a modern program of a residential high-rise t

symmetricallyarranged and organized in a classica

ner. As if representing the paradox

of he

Argentine

of

he

1930s, the Kavanagh was built

by

and for the

secto

r that cou ld prosper from

the

economic depr

wealthy landowners who needed new forms of nve

for their capital in times of reduced dema nd for the

cu ltural production.

le corbusier is bac k in rio de janeiro. pages from modern architecture in latin america-3

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