Table Of Contentmodern architecture in latin america
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m o d e r n a r c h i t e c t u r e i n l a t i n a m e r i c a
art, technology, and utopia
Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture
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m o d e r n a r c h i t e c t u r e i n l a t i n a m e r i c a
luis e. carranza and fernando luiz lara
Foreword by Jorge Francisco Liernur
university of texas press, austin
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The University of Texas Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the Office of the President
of the University of Texas at Austin, which provided funds toward the publication of this book.
copyright © 2014 by the university of texas press library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
All rights reserved
Carranza, Luis E., 1968–, author.
Printed in Korea Modern architecture in Latin America : art, technology, and
utopia / Luis E. Carranza and Fernando Luiz Lara ; foreword by
First edition, 2014
Jorge Francisco Liernur.
pages cm — (Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work
Latin American and Latino art and culture)
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
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1. Architecture—Latin America—History—20th century. I. Lara,
Austin, TX 78713-7819
Fernando Luiz, author. II. Liernur, Jorge Francisco, writer of
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doi:10.7560/758650
design by teresa w. wingfield
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To our children:
Alison, Helena, Clemente, and Beatriz,
for representing the spirit of the diverse
and beautiful American continent.
To Denise and Leticia
for giving us all that
and more.
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contents
foreword by Jorge Francisco Liernur xi
acknowledgments xv
(notes toward an) introduction 1
1903 Francisco Pereira Passos begins a project to 1925 Modern architecture begins with Gregori
“civilize” Rio de Janeiro by applying Baron Warchavchik and Rino Levi publishing
Haussmann’s ideas as an answer to the manifestos on the new architecture;
tropical (lack of) urbanism. 7 catching up to the 1922 Semana de Arte
U BR Moderna. 34
A BR
1904 Víctor Meano, Francisco de Oliveira Passos,
and Emile Jéquier build a Latin American 1925-a Estridentópolis en 1975: literary architecture and
character with a classical vocabulary. 10 the avant-Garde 38
U AR • BR • CL
1925-b José Villagrán García, instituto de higiene y
1906 Julián García Núñez’s Hospital Español Granja Sanitaria 40
defines a characteristic search for a new
language: Secession/Art Nouveau. 14 1928 The Columbus Memorial Lighthouse
A AR • BR • mx Competition sparks an investigation into
what architecture for Latin America should
1914 Jesús T. Acevedo and Federico Mariscal be like. 42
lecture in Mexico on the character, impor- U C: DO
tance, and role of the Spanish colonial
legacy. 18 1929-a The Ibero-American Exhibition opens in
A mx Seville, revealing the complex and contradic-
tory relations between Spain and its former
1915 antonin nechodoma introduces the Prairie American colonies. 47
style to Puerto rico. 21 A mx
1922 In an attempt to create a building expres- 1929-b Le Corbusier’s first encounters with South
sive of the “cosmic race,” José Vasconcelos America: lectures and early projects for
inaugurates in Mexico City the headquarters Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay 51
of the Secretaría de Educación Pública and U AR • BR • UY
formalizes the muralist project. 23
A mx 1929-c With the History of the Skyscraper, Francisco
Mujica articulates the skyscraper’s Latin
1923 mario Palanti: Palacio Barolo and Palacio American dimension. 55
Salvo 28 T AR • C: CU • mx
1924 Martín Fierro presents Alberto Prebisch 1929 Sergio larraín and Jorge arteaga’s oberpauer
and Ernesto Vautier’s Ciudad Azucarera en Building initiates a new direction in chilean
Tucumán and formalizes the connections architecture. 59
and interests in architecture among the
literary and artistic avant-gardes. 30
A AR • BR • mx
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A ART T TeChnOLOgY U UTOPIA
AR ARGENTINA BR BRAZIL C: CU CARIBBEAN: CUBA C: DO CARIBBEAN: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
C: PR CARIBBEAN: PUERTO RICO CL CHILE CO COLOMBIA mx MEXICO Pe PERU UY URUGUAY Ve VENEZUELA
1930-a Getúlio Vargas takes power in Brazil and 1937 cine Gran rex and argentine classicist
appoints twenty-eight-year-old Lúcio Costa modernism 92
as director of the Escola Nacional de Belas
Artes (ENBA). 61 1938 Characteristic of the growing reach of
U BR surrealism into architecture and Latin
America, the Chilean architect-trained artist
1930-b Commemorating the centenary of its inde- Matta publishes “Sensitive Mathematics—
pendence, Uruguay takes the first Soccer Architecture of Time” in Minotaure. 94
World Cup at home, and Montevideo is at A AR • CL • mx
the center of its modern ambitions. 64
A UY 1938 Joaquín torres-García, Monumento cósmico,
montevideo, uruguay 99
1930 Flávio de carvalho, “city of the naked
man” 69 1939 The European diaspora brings
architectural talents to Latin America on an
1931 Juan o’Gorman, diego rivera and Frida Kahlo unprecedented scale. 100
houses and Studios 71 U AR • BR • mx
1933 In his Pláticas sobre arquitectura lecture, 1939 the Brazilian pavilion at new York World’s
Juan O’Gorman highlights the existing Fair 105
polemics between functionalism and
academic architecture. 73 1941 Pampulha represents an encounter that
T mx would change the future of Brazil. 108
T BR
1936 Le Corbusier is back in Rio de
Janeiro. 77 1942 amancio Williams, casa sobre el arroyo 113
A BR
1943-a The Brazil Builds exhibition at the Museum
1936-a the Kavanagh Building is finished, becoming of Modern Art in New York highlights the
the tallest skyscraper in latin america. 83 architectural and political interests of U.S.
relations with Brazil. 115
1936-b Francisco Salamone: Fascism and monumental A BR
architecture in the Pampa 84
1943-b Town Planning Associates (TPA) is com-
1936-c Julio Vilamajó, School of engineering 86 missioned to design a new Brazilian town
around an airplane factory, Cidade dos Mo-
1937 Wladimiro Acosta’s Vivienda y ciudad high- tores. This will be the beginning of TPA’s
lights the relationship between ecology, new involvement with Latin America that will in-
forms of leisure, the house, and the city. 88 clude not only plans for Chimbote, Peru, but
T AR also master plans for Medellín and Bogotá,
Colombia, and Havana, Cuba. 118
U BR • C: CU • CO • Pe
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1944 Henry Klumb moves to Puerto Rico and for- 1952 The debates of plastic integration, modern
malizes investigations of modern architec- architecture, and the development of new
ture in the tropics. 123 city forms come to the forefront in two ma-
T C: PR jor universities: the UNAM in Mexico City
and the Universidad Central in Caracas,
1945 antoni Bonet, Punta Ballena, uruguay 129 Venezuela. The first exemplifies figurative,
legible, and socially conscious art; the sec-
1946 affonso reidy’s Popular housing ond, abstraction. 162
Blocks 131 U mx • Ve
1947-a Luis Barragán and Max Cetto, the émigré 1952 eladio dieste, iglesia de cristo obrero, atlán-
German architect, begin working on the tida, uruguay 170
design of the first houses in Mexico City’s
Jardines del Pedregal subdivision. 134 1953-a Affonso Reidy: halfway between the
A mx Carioca school and the Paulista
school 172
1947-b Seeking to symbolize postwar efficiency T BR
and organization, Latin American cities em-
brace the North American “architecture of 1953-b El Eco Experimental Museum in Mexico
bureaucracy.” 140 City opens its doors, advocating for an
T AR • CO • mx • Ve “emotional architecture.” 176
A mx
1947-a oscar niemeyer sketches the un building in
new York but takes no credit. 144 1953-c Max Bill’s critique of the São Paulo Biennial
has a significant impact in Brazil: Oscar
1947-b mario Pani—Multifamiliares 147 Niemeyer writes a “mea culpa,” Sérgio Ber-
nardes invests in designing a technological
1947-c agrupación espacio 149 utopia, and João Filgueiras Lima devotes his
life to prefabrication. 180
1949 La ciudad frente al río is released, showing the T BR
transformations of le corbusier’s plan for Bue-
nos aires. 151 1953-a Félix candela, church of our lady of the mi-
raculous medal, mexico city 184
1950 Public housing reaches a monumental scale:
Mario Pani, Carlos Raúl Villanueva, Affonso 1953-b mario roberto Álvarez, teatro General San
Reidy, Oscar Niemeyer. 153 martín, Buenos aires 186
U BR • mx • Ve
1954 le corbusier, curutchet house, la Plata,
1951-a carlos raúl Villanueva, Villanueva argentina 188
residence 158
1955 Eladio Dieste—Tectonics driving the acci-
1951-b PROA magazine publishes Arquitectura en Co- dental architect 190
lombia, articulating an identity that survived the T UY
second half of the century. 159
1955-a Fruto Vivas, club táchira 193
1951-c lina Bo Bardi inaugurates her casa de
Vidro. 160 1955-b the helicoide in caracas: the ultimate Parking
and Shopping center 195
1955-c Gio Ponti, Villa Planchart 197
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1956 Brasília: A modernist utopia? 199 1965-b The (re)invention of Curitiba: from the plan
U BR of Jorge Wilheim to the implementation by
Jaime Lerner 237
1957-a mies van der rohe, Bacardí Buildings for U BR
havana, cuba, and mexico city 206
1965 Juan Borchers, cooperativa eléctrica de chillán,
1957-b lina Bo Bardi, São Paulo museum of art 208 chile 240
1959 The appeal of Corbusian monumentality 1966 United Nations as client and advocate: Emilio
and béton brut: Clorindo Testa’s Government Duhart’s CEPAL Building in Santiago 242
Building in La Pampa and, with SEPRA, the T CL
Bank of London and South America in Bue-
nos Aires 210 1967 Hélio Oiticica builds Tropicália, challeng-
T AR ing the traditional boundaries between
art, popular culture, construction, and
1961-a Fidel Castro, in conversation with Ernesto architecture. 246
“Che” Guevara, decides to convert a golf A BR • Ve
course into art schools in Cuba. 214
U C: CU 1967 Jesús tenreiro-degwitz—Venezuelan
Postmodernism 250
1961-b João Batista Vilanova Artigas and Paulo
Mendes da Rocha articulate the Paulista 1968 The Olympic Games provide Mexico City
school: free ground plan, generous social with opportunities for new forms of national
spaces, and opaque envelopes. 218 representation through architecture; deadly
T BR student protests highlight the contested use
of public space. 252
1961 João Batista Vilanova artigas, School of architec- A mx
ture and Planning, university of São Paulo 221
1969-a Inventing new educational paradigms,
1962 nelson Bayardo, columbarium, Alberto Cruz Covarrubias and Godofredo
montevideo 223 Iommi (poetically) found the Ciudad Abierta
in Chile. 257
1963 in Bogotá, rogelio Salmona takes old bricks to U CL
a new dimension in torres del Parque. 225
1969-b PREVI: Two opposing governments in Peru
1964-a the military dictatorship ends delfim amorim bring in the best architects in the world to
and acácio Gil Borsoi’s investigations into an address squatter settlements. 262
architecture for the Brazilian northeast. 227 U Pe
1964-b Pedro ramírez Vázquez, museo nacional de 1969 Francisco Bullrich publishes on latin american
antropología, mexico city 229 architecture. 265
1964-c martín correa and Gabriel Guarda, las condes 1971 Formalizing the legacy of the Madí (Mo-
Benedictine monastery chapel 231 vimiento de Arte de Invención) and utopian
urban projects, Gyula Kosice proposes a
1965-a Parque do Flamengo: Roberto Burle Marx re- hydrospatial city. 267
defines the Brazilian landscape by rediscov- U AR • BR • mx
ering the country’s own local species. 233
A BR 1971 national theater, Guatemala 272
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