The Escola Carioca was a structural movement for the modern architecture in Brazil. Professionals who worked on Rio de Janeiro developed it between the 30s and 60s. The mixing between the colonial past and the European avant-garde composed its formula. In other words, the balance of the details of the luso-brazilian buildings (as wood trusses, tiles and pottery tiles) mixed with the Le Corbusier repertory (pilotis, brises soleils and a free plan, for example), all sauced with the Burle Marx gardens and panels from the artist like Cândido Portinari and Paulo Werneck.
The movement was stamped with the state funding which shaped the image of Modern Brazil, from Getúlio Vargas to Juscelino Kubitschek. However, it was also embraced by the private initiative, which built housing and office buildings. If Lucio Costa was its intellectual master and Oscar Niemeyer was its biggest exponent, the Escola Carioca was established by several other professionals, some of them from the front line, like Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Sergio Bernardes and the Roberto Brothers.
The subject come back to the agenda with de 31th edition of Monolito, which presents 81 works from 31 architects. Created between 1929 and 1973, all of them were photographed recently by Leonardo Finotti. The pictures reveal extremes, from the vivacity to the abandon. Even though that part of the historiography confronts its existence as a school (escola) because, supposedly, it didn’t create successors, the work from this group and their followers it is not only the base of the next architecture movement, Escola Paulista, but also has a big influence in the Brazilian production.
To discuss the theme, the Studio-X Rio proposes a talk between carioca architects acting in different generations – Caio Calafate, André Lompreta and Francisco Hue, with the moderation of Fernando Serapião, editor of this edition that will be launch in the event.
Speakers
Caio Calafate
Architect with a Master at PUC-Rio, co-founder and partner of Grua Arquitetos office, and teaches at IED RJ- European Design Institute and at Universidade de Santa Úrsula.
Francisco Hue
Founder partner at Francisco Hue office, he graduated in architecture at Instituto Metodista Bennett and he is doing a Master in urbanism at PROURB-UFRJ. Francisco also teaches architecture and urbanism at PUC-Rio.
André Lompreta
Graduated in architecture and urbanism at FAU-UFRJ. Nowadays he is director at Lompreta Nolte Arquitetos and general manager of De Founier e Associados, he also teaches at IED RJ.
Fernando Serapião
Architect, author of São Paulo: Contemporary Architecture Guide, he has experience of more than a decade as architecture magazine editor and has hundreds of articles published in specialized journals in Brazil and abroad, in countries like Spain, Italy, China and Portugal. Serapião also writes about architecture as newspaper contributor at Folha de São Paulo and Piauí magazine.