Atop the hill, on the site chosen for the city's founding—offering views of the entire urban landscape and the sea—a seed of modern architecture in Brazil was planted in a vacant space between the Cathedral (Sé) and the Senate House (Casa de Câmara).
Text description provided by the architects. Inaugurated in March 1979, this building is one of the main cultural venues in the municipality of Campos do Jordão. Since its opening, it has hosted the city's traditional Winter Festival.
The architectural concept is grounded in a robust structural system, featuring four perimeter columns that support a square, exposed concrete roof. The columns are braced by roof beams that form diagonal ribs, which also function as acoustic reflectors for the auditorium.
This article was originally published on July 20, 2018. To read about other iconic architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section.
Ibirapuera Park is a landmark in the city of São Paulo and a milestone of Brazilian modern architecture. Housing a cluster of five cultural buildings connected by a light, sinuous canopy, the project—designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer in harmony with the landscaping—reads like poetry floating over São Paulo's urban fabric.
Commissioned in 1951 by Governor Lucas Nogueira Garcez—who established a planning commission composed of public and private sector representatives for the celebrations of the IV Centennial of the City of São Paulo—the park was envisioned as a landmark for the capital, serving as a vital hub for culture and leisure. This idea, which had previously been championed by Ciccillo Matarazzo, paved the way for a proposal that combined a series of cultural and artistic buildings.
This article was originally published on February 1, 2018. To read about other iconic architectural projects, visit our Architecture Classics section.
With the exponential growth of São Paulo's population in the 1930s and the encouragement of the private construction market, several architects were invited to design buildings for diverse uses in the city center. Álvaro Vital Brasil and Adhemar Marinho were responsible for designing the Esther Building, an icon of the first phase of verticalization around Praça da República. [1]
In 1933, when the city surpassed the one-million-inhabitant mark, a considerable number of high-rise buildings began to be constructed. [2] As a result of urban demographic expansion and mass verticalization between the 1930s and 1940s, high rents and rising land values in the expanded downtown area triggered transformations in the residential and urban landscape. [3]
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.jpg?1531751405 "Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium. Image © Manuel Sá")
.jpg?1531751260 "Palácio da Agricultura / Museum of Contemporary Art. Image © Manuel Sá")
.jpg?1531751296 "Palácio da Agricultura / Museum of Contemporary Art. Image © Manuel Sá")
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