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Paulo Mendes da Rocha, by Paulo Mendes da Rocha
& Rosa Artegis.
Featured twice previously on this
weekly page -- as well as this week with his design for
a chapel on the grounds
of a ceramic factory -- the architecture of Paulo Mendes
da Rocha evinces an undeniable quality that comes from the
simplest of gestures rendered unabashedly in materials like
concrete or steel. His Square
of the Patriarch, which graces the cover of this recent
monograph on the Pritzker
Prize-winning architect from Brazil, clearly illustrates
such a stance: a strong belief in Modernism and its ability
to transform the city. In most cases, for da Rocha, the
city is his native São Paulo, where the above plaza
and perhaps his most famous building, the Brazilian
Museum of Sculpture, make their home. This book presents
roughly 50 of the architect's built and unbuilt projects,
almost all within Brazil. Even with the exposure given the
architect on his awarding of the Pritzker Prize, many of
these projects will be new to those outside his home country.
The presentation of the projects
that range from in scale from a chair to a waterfront exhibits
the same consistency as the architect's work and style.
Beyond the requisite photographs, sketches, models and text
descriptions, the hard-line drawings stand out for their
spare simplicity and consistency of treatment. These drawings,
particularly the plans and sections, illustrate the minimal
efforts expended for the maximum effects. In the sections
we see the trademark raising of the building above the ground
surface to create a sheltered open space and bar buildings
that seem to never die of their novelty for the architect.
But to boil the architect's work down to formal flourishes
would be a disservice, and the essays that da Rocha himself
provides, including a post-Pritzker interview, help give
the reader some insight into the architect's firm belief
in program over form, amongst other approaches to the task
of architecture.
The book is split into two volumes.
In essence it is an expansion of an earlier monograph, presenting
recent works by da Rocha. These later projects, like the
chapel, exhibit a willingness to accept small commissions
alongside ones that deal with the scale of neighborhoods.
It's an ideal position to be in for an architect who could
easily be called an idealist.
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