ECAFERP Brazil,
1928. Gregori Warchavchik terminates the construction of the first Modern building in Brazil. Brazil, 1914. Ralf Amann, GMP Architekten’s Brazilian director realizes the Arena da Amazônia which will host the FIFA World Cup, finished some weeks ago. These two events symbolically represent the beginning and the present-day state of Modern Architecture in Brazil. The Russian architect, who just 5 years before arrived in the country, will have a huge influence on local Architecture for the rest of the century. He spreaded European Modern Architecture that changing over years created that movement which, so well, combines innovative Architecture qualities with social, economic and cultural local characteristics. The German Architects, instead, designs what will be the most emblematic stadium in the whole cup for its geographic position of dubious value. The world championship opens up the cycle of international events hold in Brazil in these years which are reason and effect of South American countries globalization – whether right or wrong. Contributors to this first Burrasca’s issue acted within these extremes. There are, in fact, many articles which show, in different ways, the flourishing Brazilian Modern Architecture: Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s São Pedro Apóstolo chapel, Lina Bo Bardi’s SESC Pompeia, Niemeyer’s architecture are just some of the articles able to show how the development of the country has often been the occasion for the Masters to contribute with exceptional works. In this sense, “Feet on the Ground”, the story of the bus terminal narrated by Daniele Di Fiore is exemplary. Where, in addition to the history of Brutalism in Brazil, the development of Brazilian mobility reflected on the Architecture and vice versa. Although the last century has been politically very troubled Brazilian Architecture ran its course.
Today, however, in view of the big events host in the country the acceleration in the modernization process has huge social impacts – Cazarini Neme’s article and Giandinoto’s reportage on favelas are meaningfull. Also architecture territory has suffered the consequences: “this situation on the one hand perhaps denounces the lack of a contemporary generation of architects capable of impose themselves in Brazil, but it is also a warning about the inability of the society to produce architects who can bequeath its traditions and values” as expressed by Luigi Mandraccio’s “Inspired Planning.” If a part of the contributions concentrated on showing how exceptionally Brazilian Modern Architecture contributed to Architecture itself, many others showed the recent past revealing what are the social and architectural problematics nowadays. In a so critic situation, the answers given by people who design and build the future of Brazil are crucial. Looking at the issue in this perspective we can recognize a singular contribution to 3 articles. These describe contemporary initiatives and operations that aim to offer new tools to read Brazilian cities and society and that deal with different subjects: Sao Paolo’s liquid limits in Jeanette Sordi article, Rio de Janeiro’s hidden lessons described by Guilherme Lassance and O Novo Guia de Brasilia in which street food and life become an instrument to look at the city from the point of view of people who live it every day. From this perspective Brazil seems to appear as a country with a great architecture history but in some way frozen; Nevertheless the contributions to this book show as a disenchanted look at its territorial, architectural and social resources can lay the foundations for an architecture and urban planning Brazilian once again and able to relate with the social context contributing to its development without suffering.