Marcio Oliveira

My little tribute to Brasilia's 50 Birthday... Planted deep in the heart of the central plateau, Brasília has its origins in the early years of the colonial period, when the idea of building a new capital was first suggested: “The first recorded advocacy of a new capital appeared in 1789 in a statement by a group of political revolutionaries in the state of Minas Gerais, who called themselves ‘inconfidentes mineiros.’ Pioneers in the movement for independence from Portugal, they incorporated in their program the concept of a new governing center, free of the symbolic associations with the colonial regime.” (Evenson, 1973).  In 1821, Bonifácio de Andrada, the patriarch of Brazil’s independence, recommended to the deputies at the Court of Lisbon: “there shall be erected a central town, in the interior of Brazil, as the seat of the court or regency…”. In 1883 an Italian priest known as Dom Bosco had a ‘dream-vision’, in which he saw the ‘promised land’ between the 15th and 20th d...

Brasilia est peut-être la seule ville où une voie express soit l`artère principale de la zone résidentielle: c'est l'expression parfait de l'ère de l'auto." E. N. Bacon, 1967. Contents: Introduction The Street Redefined The South Wing's Axial-Expressway The Underground Passageways Concluding Remarks References 1. Introduction Brasilia is almost 50 years old. Erected in record setting time of three years (1957-60), the city was planned in relation to Brazil's need to conquer physically, culturally and economically its own continent sized countryside. The young Brazilian capital is undoubtedly the most clear example of the ideals of `modernization' relentlessly pursued by Latin American countries during the first part of this century. This utopian city, though, was built to be more than merely the symbol of the so called "modern age". Rather, Brasilia realized one of the modern architecture's fundamental planning objectives: to red...

Brasilia: living within modernist standards by: Marcio N. de Oliveira (originally written in 98 for Maquis, my old Geocities homepage) Introduction: Latin American countries have always pursued a sense of urban utopia. Nowhere else have modernistic urban theories, above all Le Corbusier's, controlled the minds of practicing architects and urban designers as much as in Latin America and specially Brazil. Brasilia was designed according to them and quite clearly exemplifies the shortcoming of such urban theories. Erected in record setting time of three years (1957-60), the city was planned in relation to Brazil's need to conquer physically, culturally and economically its own continent sized countryside. With this short essay I intend to show one view, the one of a natural Brasiliense , born and raised in Brasilia, living the daily life within modernist standards. Superquadras and Apartment Blocks: In Brasilia's urban landscape the central city was made up of two dense res...

by Marcio Oliveira (originally written in 98 for Maquis, a Geocities homepage I used to keep) After the First World War the echoes of the European cultural production started to arrive at Brazilian shores with somewhat increased intensity. The European influence reached its highest point in 1922, when the 'week of modern art' was held in São Paulo, with exhibits of paintings, sculptures, literature, theater, etc. To this date the week of 22 remains as the most preeminent manifestation of the introduction of the avant garde movement into the Brazilian cultural production. For its architectural portion, this important period culminated in 1929 with the construction of the first 'modernist' house designed by the Russian immigrant Gregory Warchavchik in São Paulo. The Brazilian architectural movement was decisively influenced by its European counterpart during the 1929 visit made by French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in which he lec...