This blog is mourning the death of Brazilian architect Joaquim Guedes last Sunday in Sao Paulo.
Joaquim Guedes’ work is fundamental for understanding Brazilian architecture in the second half of the XXth century. Departing from the rationalism or brutalism of the so called Escola Paulista (São Paulo´s school) in the 1950s, Guedes developed a unique response to the challenges of Brazilian modern architecture, one that is much closer to the local demands and tectonic responses. Guedes understands “architectural design as the art of building”.
Born in 1932, the first of 15 siblings, Guedes graduated in 1954 from the University of São Paulo where he was influenced by Corbusier’s methods (but not its formal solutions) and Aalto’s materiality. Aalto would continue to be a strong reference in his works as well as other professors and pioneers of the Escola Paulista: Vilanova Artigas, Oswaldo Bratke and Eduardo Knesse de Mello. With them Guedes shares the belief in the tectonics as a base for a coherent architecture.
Born in 1932, the first of 15 siblings, Guedes graduated in 1954 from the University of São Paulo where he was influenced by Corbusier’s methods (but not its formal solutions) and Aalto’s materiality. Aalto would continue to be a strong reference in his works as well as other professors and pioneers of the Escola Paulista: Vilanova Artigas, Oswaldo Bratke and Eduardo Knesse de Mello. With them Guedes shares the belief in the tectonics as a base for a coherent architecture.
Having the opportunity to work on all scales, from objects to renovations to hospitals to entire cities, Guedes strikes us for his objectivity and rationality. Against anything superfluous, Guedes has always criticized Brazilian Modern Architecture of the 50s and 60s for its exaggerated formalism. For him, the most important is the submission to social programs, technology, economy and human activities, which come before expressionism and personal creation.
His work is also outstanding for the rigorous detailing (not a stronghold of Brazilian Modernism) , which pushes Guedes’ work to a higher level. Rigour and detailing has been a trademark of Guedes as a professor also. Teaching since 1958 at the School of Architecture of the University of São Paulo, Guedes has been a strong reference throughout the last 30 years. He also taught in Strasbourg (France) between 1970-1973. His incisive rational process can be summarized in his own words: “the more I doubt, inquire and criticize, the more I feel closer to knowledge and truth”.
Working with his wife Liliana from 1954 to 1978, Guedes architectural talent was manifested very early. He was only 24 years old when in 1956 and his entry for the Brasilia’s plan competition broke up with the Charter of Athens. Still debated and studied today, his proposal for Brasilia presents a city based on quotidian experiences able to grow and expand with the pace of Brazilian modernization and consequent urbanization.
In 1957 he designed the J. Guedes house (his father) in a difficult site (30 x 150 ft) for a large family. In this house the principles of his later work: rationality and tectonics, are already laid out in an incipient manner. Shortly after (1958) he designed the Cunha Lima house which made him famous with the prize at the VII São Paulo Bienal. At the Cunha Lima house the exposed reinforced concrete structure that was the trademark of the Paulista School is reinterpreted with emphasis on economy of means and maximization of spaces for social life. For Guedes, architecture has always been an rational and economic way to materialize spaces for the needs of society. In the Cunha Lima house, as would be common in all his buildings, the structural solution is very important and the economy of columns increase the flexibility of interior spaces.
The same would occur in his own house (Liliana and Joaquim Guedes house) where the fantastic slabs continue outside the plan and work as shading device. In this house the outstanding detailing is fully harmonized with the overall plan and the exposed reinforced concrete slabs are humanized by the wooden fenestration subordinated to the structure.
In the 1970s Guedes had the opportunity to design and build entire cities in the Brazilian backlands and the Amazon Jungle. The city of Carajás (1973) , Marabá (1973) and Barcarena (1980) in the amazonian state of Pará where designed as part of a major mining project in which Guedes worked from the beginning, influencing even the path of the 400 miles railway that connects it to the port. Distant …. From the major cities of Belém and … from Brasília, the design of those city plans included a complex logistics of transportation and labor, a task up to Guedes’ rationality.
In the design and construction of the city of Caraíba (1976) in Bahia’s backland, Guedes faced a completely different task. Caraíba is located in a very dry region of the Brazilian sertão (dry savana) where the challenge was to shade and protect from the hot winds. Guedes solved this problem with little shaded spaces instead of large plazas and a high respect to the traditional local way of building guided him towards very simple facades whose elegance adds a delicate touch to the hard life of the sertanejos.
Guedes focus on economy instead of aesthetic expressionism guided him to think of the Brazilian slums, for instance, not as a problem but a solution since it reveals the amazing capacity that people have to build and overcome daily problems.
Structure, economy, rationality and emphasis on quotidian life might be the major forces behind Guedes architecture but are not enough to explain the strength of his major works. To all those we need to add an extremely developed sensibility of a humanist.
In the design and construction of the city of Caraíba (1976) in Bahia’s backland, Guedes faced a completely different task. Caraíba is located in a very dry region of the Brazilian sertão (dry savana) where the challenge was to shade and protect from the hot winds. Guedes solved this problem with little shaded spaces instead of large plazas and a high respect to the traditional local way of building guided him towards very simple facades whose elegance adds a delicate touch to the hard life of the sertanejos.
Guedes focus on economy instead of aesthetic expressionism guided him to think of the Brazilian slums, for instance, not as a problem but a solution since it reveals the amazing capacity that people have to build and overcome daily problems.
Structure, economy, rationality and emphasis on quotidian life might be the major forces behind Guedes architecture but are not enough to explain the strength of his major works. To all those we need to add an extremely developed sensibility of a humanist.
We will miss Joaquim Guedes
