I

of the more immediate and pragmatic solu tion to the

material needs of the population.
By expressing a fu nctiona l a nd material honesty, O'Gorman argued, archi tecture expressed the
bea uty and harmony of the scientifi c world itself and
would also be, the refore, an expression of its present.
However, in a dialectical m oment of his discussion
O'Gorman described the possible problems of func~
tionalism: becoming too dogmatic or becoming the
banner offashion. His implication was that functionalist architecture could become aes theticized and then
ideologically, propose to solve n ew spiritual necessi- '
ties? It was, ultimately, that very "styli zation" of functionalism in Mexico and its use for speculative housing
that would lead O'Gorman to abandon architecture in
1936.
Over aesthetic requirements, architecture had torespond directly to the objective n ecessi ties of the a
I
th
m e.
no e r words, it had to a pply the presen t techn ical
and rational structures to solve the given problem s of
the present.
. What was importan t fcor O'G orman was to
seek effiCJent and inexpen sive a rchitectural solutions
that repres_ented the current conditions and materials
of p_roduchon and expressed the drive toward rationalJZa twn and mternationalization O'G
,
..

orman s pos1tions
were summed up in the following way:
The architecture that some call ~unct
.
1ona 1or rational and others German, Swedish, Internatio nal, or

Modern-creatmg confus1on w1th so many names-we

will call techn 1cal a rchi tecture w1th the goal of clearly de
fining it in order to understand that 1ts a1m is to be usefu
for mankmd 1n a straightforwa rd and precise manner. The
difference between a techn1ca l arch1tect and an academ1c
or artist1c architect will be perfectly clear. The technical ar
chitect IS useful to the maJonty, and the academic is use
ful to a minority. The first to serve the maJority of needy
ind ividual s who only have matenal needs and to whom
spiritual necessit ies are not essential. The second to serve
a minority of people who enjoy the profits of the land and
industry. Arch itecture that serves mankind or architecture
that serves money.

wth
1 t.h
m e paramete rs of economy, construction, and
labor investment, O'Gorman saw functional architec
ture as responding to the inte rests and needs of the
masses, s ince its ve ry efficiency allowed for a greater
number of buildings to be built for the same amount
of money, materials, and work needed to build more
ornate and artistic ones .

FU RTHER READING

Carranza "Agamst
a New Architectu re: Juan O'Gonnnan and
the Disillusionment of Modern ism," in Architecture as
Revolution.
O'Gorman, juan O'Gorman.
Rodriguez Prampol"lnJ, j uan 0 ,Gorman: Arquitecto y pintor.

TECHNOLOGY

MEX ICO

LE COR BUSIER IS BAC K IN R I O DE JANEIRO.

B RAZIL

1929 , LE CO RB U S!ER traveled to Argentina,

Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay in search of opportunities (see 1929-b entry). The boldness of the Americas
seemed much more open to his ideas. Despite his
best efforts, years passed and nothing material ized.
The much-awaited opportunity came seven years later
when the Brazilian government, by means of its Ministerio da Educa~ao e Saude Publica (MESP; Ministry of
Education and Public Health) invited him to return as
a consultant on two projects: a campus for the University of Brazil and a new building for the ministry.
Created in 1931, the MESP was part ofGerulio
Vargas's strategy to modernize Brazil but also to centralize in Rio de Janeiro the decision-making process
that had previously been under the purview of each
state.1 With the appointment of Gustavo Capanema to
lead the mi nistry in 1934, a group of intellectuals connected to the modernist avant-garde were hired to assist him. Carlos Drummond de Andrade-Capanema's
chief-of-staff-and Rodrigo Melo Franco were there
from the beginning. Other prominent individuals who
surrounded him included Mario de Andrade, Candido Portinari, Manuel Bandeira, Heitor Villa-Lobos,
Cecflia Meireles, and Vinicius de Moraes. Lucio Costa
would soon join them in 1937 when the Servi~o do
Patrimonio Hist6rico e Artfstico Nacional (SPHAN;
Brazilian Conservation Service, now known as IPH AN)
was created.
In 1935, the MESP held a competition for its new
headquarters. The n eocolonial Marajoara-style design
by Arqui medes Memoria was chosen as the winner. 2
Minister Capanema and his close collaborators, Drummond and Melo Franco, in particular, were not happy
with the choice of a traditional-looking building. In
contrast to Jose Vasconcelos in Mexico a decade earlier
(see 1922 entry), Capanema believed that modem architecture perfectly embodied the task of modernizing
the Brazilian educational system. More to the point,
since his own defen se of universal public education
was tepid, at best, his decision was based more on the
IN

influence of his close collaborators, who were all enthusiastic defenders of modernism. Whether or not Capanema was sold on modern architecture, it is clear that
he wanted the MES P to convey an image of the future
and not of the past. With the results of the competition
voided by the government, the commission for the design of the new building was awarded to Lucio Costa.
To face the fierce criticism that would ensue (echoing the ENBA debacle of live years earlier; see 1930-a
entry), Costa brought together a team of the best young
modernist designers in Rio de Janeiro to work on the
MESP building: Alfonso Eduardo Reidy, Carlos Leao,
Jorge Moreira, and Emani Vasconcellos. Sensing the
opportunity and seeking further support, Costa suggested that the Brazilian government invite Le Corbusier to join the team. Since Brazilian legislation did not
(and still does not) allow foreigners to be responsible
for architectural projects without a lengthy process of
diploma registration (which, by the way, Le Corbusier
did not have), the Swiss-French master was hired to
give six lectures and to work as a "consultant" for the
MESP building as well as fo r the new campus of the
University of Brazil, with the understanding that he
would be the lead designer. 3
During the five weeks he stayed in Rio de Janeiro,
Le Corbusier worked on both projects but seemed
more enthusiastic about the university campus, probably thinking that it would give him more visibility. Le
Corbusier's lesser involvement with the design of the
MESP buildi ng was also based on his dislike for its
proposed location , an urban block behind the church
of Santa Luzia at Esplanada do Castelo, a new area left
open by the removal of the hill of the same name (see
1903 entry). Le Corbusier lobbied strongly for a site at
the seashore, close to the airport, and next to where Affonso Reidy's Museum of Modem Art would eventually
be built in 1953- The "consultant" insisted on designing for this alternative site, and his sketches show a
low horizontal building facing Guanabara Bay and Sugarloaf Moun tain while turning its back to the city. The

77

glass far;ade and the pilotis are there, but Le Corbusier's

proposal is very much disconnec ted from the city fabric, and it appears to be more of a showcase building to
be seen from the airport and the ocea n liners-in other
words, to be seen from abroad.
Soon after Le Corbusier departed for France, Capanema ordered the team of Braz ilian arch itects to forge t
about a seashore site and resume th e design of th e
MES P building on its original, in tended site whi le
deliberations on the university campus project took
place. Not surprisingly, the comm ittee composed of the
academic faculty re jec ted Le Corbusier 's pla n in favor
of that by Marcello Piacen ti n i. T he Italian a rchitect
delivered his design in 1938. but it, too, was ultimately
rejected . By then , the battle between modernists and
academics was being decided in favo r of the former,
and Le Corbusier was indirectly respons ible. H is fi ve
weeks in Rio de Janei ro were enough to tra nsform the
local team.
As the I9JOS progressed, th e "modernistas" were
a ble to get more commission s and to align themselves
wi th a government that needed a modern far;ade to
showcase its achievements. Costa and his tea m were
part of this equation. The most important piece of this
team, h owever, was just about to be discovered.
Although Costa m ight have been a las t-m in ute

modernist, Reidy, Lello, Moreira , and Vasconcellos

had all been followers of Le Corbusier since they \\'ere
studen ts. The great transformation on the team was
the rise of an unpa id intern called Oscar Ribeiro deAlmeida iemeye r Soares, who, despite being the same
age as the others, had entered the E BA later (r9291934) In 1936. sen sing the opportunity, he begged
Costa for an interns hip in the MESP and university
ca mpus projects.
As a result, Niemeyer and Le Corbusier would
sta rt a re lationship th at would continue until the lat
ter 's death in 1965. The myth is that Le Corbusier
was e nchanted by icmeyer's free-hand drawings and
asked him to assis t in all presen tations. This tale is cor
robo rated by a letter from Le Corbusier to Costa dated
Novembe r 2 1, 1936, in which he asks uHow are the
valuable Osca r an d his beautiful perspectives doing?
Costa's December 3' '9J6, reply states that oscar
was moved" by the refe rence to his drawings and, accord ing to Costa, "was doing several beautiful things."
Six months had passed between Niemeyer being an
unpaid inte rn to be in g the su bject of praise by Le Cor
busier and Cos ta.
Less explored by the historiography is the question
of why Le Corbusie r relied on Niemeyer and not on
others. Js it possible tha t Oscar Niemeyer was already

-.

Le Corbusier's pro
1 fi
h
.
Publi
. posa or t e Mmistry of Ed ucation and
c Hea lth, Rio d e Janeiro , 1936.

A RT

BR AZIL

Lucio Costa et a l., no rth fa~a de of the Ministry of Education

and Public Health, Rio de Janeiro, 194 5.

an outstanding designer at tha t time? If that is the

case, why did he not win any honors at ENBA or garner anyone's attention before his five weeks with Le
Corbusier? More plausible is that Niemeyer, having
entered the ENBA in 1929 and without much expos ure
to art and architecture, never actua!Jy learned academi c
drawing. His "loose" sketches wouJd s urely not have
attracted the attention of the conservative faculty that
took over after Costa's remova l in 1931. His drawings

,O::J

Plan and longitudinal section of the Ministry of Edu r

d
Public Health.
ca ion an

were being valued for the very first time and being valued by one of the most important conte mporary architects: Le Corbusier.
In an attempt to brush aside the grand iose narrative of iemeyer 's discovery as written by himself
and Costa, what is clear is that Le Corbusier's compliments gave iemeyer the confidence to be m h
uc more

aggressive and forceful in his designs, something that

he continued to exe rcise until his death in 2012.'
With Le Corbus ie r gone and with Capanema'sor
ders to wo rk on the first site, iemeyer rose to the forefront of the team-at first timidly, as when he showed
some sketches to Carlos Leao but threw them away be
fore Costa arrived. As the des ign work progressed, the
horizontal volume o riginally proposed by Le Corbusier
became a tall vertical slab in the fi nal design. The slab,
in turn, su bdivides the urban block while a lower in
te rl ocking mass perpendicula rly spans the width of the
site along its eastern edge. The tower houses the offices
of th e ministry, while the lower volume is composed
of an auditorium and an open gaUery. In the tower, the
ground-floor pi/otis proposed by the European visitor
for his scheme would be elongated to 33 feet (tom),
making for a much more elegant and light~ composi
tion (and seemingly allowing the lower mass to slide
under it). The columns, however, are clearly bigger than
s tructura lly required for the building but, in a more
classical and traditiona l way (as part of Costa's Beaux
Arts training), are composi tiona!Jy proportional to the
space that they open up and the overall height and pro
portions of th e building. These overscaJed pi/otis make
the entrance hall m uch more monumentaJ while allow
ing for the interconnection between the exterior plazas
and the wh ole composition to be more permeable.
The M ESP, as one of the first modernist high-rise
buildings ever built, incorporates Le Corbusier's five
points system for a n ew architecture: free fa~ade, free
plan, horizontal windows, pi/otis, and roof garden.
In addition, the two full y glazed fa~des are treated
differe ntJy to accommodate the tropicaJ climate: the
southern one, with a n oblique view of the ocean, is
transparent, while the n orthern one is protected by
horizontal m ovable brise-soleil (s un screens) that pivot
on fixed concrete panels. The use of this system was
later described by Le Corbusier as an additional point
of his architectural sys te m . The brise-soleil, it shouJd
be noted, had already been used by Luis Nunes in
Recife (l934) and by the Roberto brothers (Mauricio,
Milton, and Marcelo; aka MMM Roberto) at the ABI
Building (1936- 1 938) a few blocks away. 5 As movable pa_rts, however, they gave the MESP building a
.
dynam1c quality
th fi
as e n s were adjusted according
to the desired
d
VIews an seasons (lower or higher sun
angle), while the vertical panels that hold them pro
tected from the afternoon glare.

Roberto Burle Marx, terrace garden at the Ministry of

Education and Public Health, Rio de Janeiro, 1945

Following Le Corbusier's advice, the Brazilian

team incorporated azulejo (traditional Portuguese tile)
murals as protection and decoration for the major
external walls. Candido Portinari was hired to design
those as well as other interior murals. In addition,
sculptures are scattered throughout, as the building
aspired to become a total work of art and an open
lesson on modernism. This ambition for totality is
further enhanced by the gardens designed by Roberto
Burle Marx (see 1961 entry) that include those on the
ground-level plazas, on the terrace over the exhibition hall, and on the roof of the building where the
minister's offices wouJd be located. At ground level,
the vegetation beds break up the two plazas and penetrate under the pi/otis, in dialogue with the columns
that rise like artificiaJ trunks from the ground. At the
terrace garden of the lower mass, Burle Marx created
one of his most important early designs. Here, the
beds of different flower species and their colorations
are shaped into various curviJinear forms and patterns that have the advantage of being visible from all
south-facing offices, turning it into a living canvas-a
concept that Burle Marx would develop throughout his
life with undisputed mastery. At the rooflevel of the
tower, for the more sculptural forms of the minister's
offices, Burle Marx would create a more subdued and
controlled garden space.
Ultimately, it was the gardens, as large setbacks, that
linked the building to the modern urban fabric by providing a type of respite from the dense urban grid and
traditional walls immediately adjacent to the property.
The modern composition with large setbacks and permeable ground floor under the elegant pi/otis highlights
the insertion of a modernist building and its qualities
within the traditional urban fabric of Rio de Janeiro.
Given the changes that the Brazilian team enacted,
the relationship with Le Corbusier became somewhat
turbulent. In 1937. when Costa sent him the final
drawings, he received compliments in response. It
wasn't until 1945, after the end of World War II, that
Le Corbusier saw pictures of the completed building.
He replied bitterly that he wasn't adequately paid and
that his authorshjp was not properly acknowledged. Le
Corbusier was most likely reacting to the internationaJ
success of Brazilian architecture and the members of
the MESP design team (such as Costa and Niemeyer),
who, for instance, were featured in the Museum of
Modem Art's Brazil Builds exhibition (1943; see 1943-a

Bo
ART

BRAZ IL

ART

BRAZIL

81

1936-A

entry) as well as throughout European magazines .

vi s ited Rio d e Ja n ei ro in 193 1. Even the struggle with

Costa replied stating that Le Corbusier's participation

more traditio n a l o r acade m ic a rchitects (as defined by

had been acknowledged as a building "inspired by Le

Cos ta) was fa r fro m being over a fter Le Corbusier's

Corbusier's initial s ke tches." Cos ta was appalled later

to find that Le Corbusier publi sh ed n ew sketches,
drawn over photographs of the build ing, as if they were
process studies. 6
Despite the later turbulence, Nie m eyer would
c.ontinue to be Le Corbusier 's d evote d disciple-at
times emphasizing his d eviations from the master's

~rthodoxy (as in Pampulha; see 1941 e ntry), other

tim es accommodating his demands (as in the United
Nations building; see 1947-a box). Nie m eyer always
stated, ~m~ever, that he learned "everything" from Le

Cor~uster m 1936. Le Corbus ier's influence on Brazil's

architectural m odernism would be furth er inflated b

othe~

Brazilian historiography at the expense of many

actors or .events.
Mos tly based on Costa's arguments
.
and
like Brazil Builds (1943) , H e n nque
.
. pubhcatwns
. ,
Mmdlin s Modern Architecture in Braz il (1956) , and
Yves Bruand's Arquitetura contemporanea no Brasil

(1981) , the founda tional myth of Brazil's m odern archi-

tec~re was establish ed on the ENBA's fru s trated reformatiOn and the consequent contact with Le C b .
th
or us1er
at e MESP building. This happe ned, o f course, at
the expen se of the pion eering contributions ofG
.
Warch chik .
.
regon
av
' Rino LeVI, and Flavio de Carvalho in Sao
Paulo, to name a few.
.The rea lity is much more complex. The works b
LUiz Nunes in Recife and Warchavchk . S"
y
.
In dO Paulo
a re Important precedents to the MESP b ild.
.
th infl
u mg, as Is
e
ue nce of others like Frank Uoyd Wright, who

seco nd vis it, as seen by the results for the 1936 com

THE KAVANAGH BUILDING IS FINISHED, BECOMING

TH E TALLEST SKYSCRAPER IN LATIN AMERICA.

p e tition for th e headqua rte rs o f the Finance Ministry

to be built a few blocks a way from the MESP in Rio de
Ja n eiro. The winning e ntry was a modernist design by
Wladimir Alves d e Souza and Eneas Silva (Oscar Nie
meyer and Jorge Leao wo n th e second prize). Minister
Artur de Souza Cos ta , h owe ve r, was not happy with the

a EFORE A1RPLANEs became ubiquitous, no matter how

des ig n because, a ccording to him, bankers and finan

one arrived in Buenos Aires, the Kavanagh Bu ilding was

there to greet you. Coming by train , the Kavanagh would

cie rs would pre fe r the s olidity of heavy walls over the

At the base, the building's triangular plan is

completely occupied by

trans pare n cy and lightness of large glass panels. The

be right in front as you left Retiro Station. Arriving by sea,

an elaborate lobby. As

competition wa s cance lled, and a team led by engineer

the 390-foot-high (119m) structure was visible from every

dock of the new Puerto Madero. For many years it was the
tallest building in South America and tallest reinforced

this is a residential skyscraper (in contrast to

Ary Fontoura de Azambuja des igned a neoclassical

structure s uppo rted by a series of Doric columns.
The battle would not e nd until the early 1940s
when Niemeye r design ed the Grande Hotel in Ouro
Pre to and the Pampulha buildings in Belo Horizonte
(see 1 94I entry). By then , his designs deviated widely
from Le Corbusier by in corporating h istorical refer

ences (Grande H otel) and putting into question the

centrality of th e angle droit (right angle; Pampulha).

concrete structure in the world.

Built in only fourteen months for Corina Kavanagh,
a wealthy Argentine widow who sold two (of her many)
country estates to build a luxury residence in downtown
Buenos Aires, the Kavanagh is home to 105 noexpensespared rental units designed for the wealthiest estancieros,
or Argentine landowners. The apartments utilized the
latest in technological advances such as central air conditioning and modern plumbing. The spacious bathrooms
were all completely finished in marble. Hardware details
were cast in white steel to avoid interfering with the ha nd -

FURTHER READING
Andreoli and Forty, Brazil's Modern Architecture.
Cavalcanti, When Braz il Was Modern .

crafted looks of the interiors. Those with apartments on

Cavalcanti and Caldeira, "The Role of Modernists in the

the upper floors have exqu isite terrace gardens w ith views

.Establishment of Brazilian Cultu ral Heritage."

GUJUen, "Modernism without Modernity."
Lara ' o ne s tep Back, Two Steps Forward."

of the river, parks, and the city.

Designed by the firm of the Uruguayan engineer Gregorio Sanchez and the Argentine architects Ernesto Lagos and

ible and adaptable plans

but, rather, the individualization of the access
points to the apartments.
Thus, twelve elevators
are placed throughout
the mass and create
separate routes to the different floors, minimizing
the interactions between

ner ofC6rdoba and Libertad (1931) and were already experimenting with modernism as seen by the pi/otis proposed
for the building at Libertador 3080 to be sold as commercial space. For Corina Kavanagh , they designed an elegant

floor- the only apartment to occupy a full

floor and have an area

Luis Marfa de Ia Torre, the Kavanagh is the most "modern"

thi rty-story structure that takes full advantage of its angular

corner position and location on a small hill across from the
Plaza San Martfn to further emphasize its verticality.
As it rises, the building volume steps back li ke the early
skyscrapers in New York, emphasizing its character and
sculptural forms rather than the maximization of floor-area

Sanchez, lagos, and de Ia Torre,

Kavanagh Building, Buenos Aires,
close to 7,000 square
1936.
feet (650 sq. m) .
According to historian jorge Francisco Liernur, the
Kavanagh is the best example of a "reactionary modernism": a modern program of a residential high-rise that is
symmetrically arranged and organized in a classical man-

of balcony or open area that affords them beautiful views

of the city, Puerto Madero, and the elegant neighborhoods

ner. As if representing the paradox of the Argentine society

of the 1930s, the Kavanagh was built by and for the on ly
sector that could prosper from the economic depress ion:
wealthy landowners who needed new forms of investment
for their capital in times of reduced demand for their agri-

of Retiro and Barrio Norte.

cultural production.

ratio, as was the case in Chicago. By stepping the volume,

the arch itects developed opportun ities for several garden s
and balconies. Thirty percent of the units have som e type

BRA ZIL

architects' main concern

was not maximizing daylight nor developing flex-

the tenants as well as the

common spaces where
these could occur. For
herself, Corina Kavanagh
reserved the fourteenth

of all buildings designed by the group. Before the Kavanagh, they designed a similar Art Deco structure at the cor-

ART

the large majority of its

North American counterparts of the time), the

83