The South as a witness: the decline of the corbusian-carioca hegemony and the rise of the dissidence from São Paulo in Brazilian architecture in the 1950s

Abstract

This paper illustrates a variant of brazilian architecture that has mistakenly been called "international style." International style was first adopted in São Paulo as the result of converging influences, including Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, the Case Study House Program, and Concretism. It defined an alternative to the then prevailing corbusian-carioca model. Its constructive tone sought features like synthesis, rationalism, atemporality, and, consequently, universality, moving away from both the corbusian matrix and the autochthonous features, which together had been responsible for the corbusian model's wide success. The influence of this alternative trend in modern architecture spread to other brazilian regions, including the city of Porto Alegre, where it was part of the winning bid for the Legislative Palace of the Rio Grande do Sul State (1958), designed by two architects from São Paulo. This project marked an important change in that state's architectural production, and helped create a turning point for Brazil, after which the overwhelming carioca school had to make room for dissident architectural style.