Full Documentation Fiche 2003
composed by national/regional working party of:
O. Picture of building/ group of buildings/ urban scheme/ landscape/ garden
depicted item: Side View
source: MOSCARDI, José
date:
1. Identity of building/ group of buildings/ group of buildings/ landscape/
garden
1. 1 Data for identification
.
current nome: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo
former/original/variant name: FAU/USP
number(s) and name(s) of street(s): rua do Lago, 876 P.O. Box 61523
town: São Paulo
province/ state: SP
post code: 05508-900
block:
lot:
country: Brazil
national topographical grid reference:
current typology: School
former / original/variant typology:
comments on typology: Architecture
1. 2 Status of protection
protected by: São Paulo State Heritage List (CONDEPHAAT) and São Paulo City Heritage
List (CONPRESP)
grade: Integral protection
date: 1982 and 1991
valid for: whole area
remarks:
1.3 Visually or functionally related building(s)/site (_)
name(s) of surrounding area/building(s): University of São Paulo
visual relations: Other buildings of the University
functional relations: Education
other relations:
2. History of building(s) etc.
2. 1 Chronology
Note if the dates are exact/y known (e) or approximate/y estimated = circa (c) or (:t)
commission or competition date: 1961
design period(s): 1961
start of site work: 1962
completion/inauguration: 1968
2. 2 Summary of development
commission brief: This building is one of the many built in the new campus of the University
of São Paulo to locate the different courses. Each school was designed by a different
architect.
design brief: The FAU/USP building is the materialization of the Artigas proposed teaching
project and clearly shows his life philosophy. An open space that allows and stimulates the
integration of people, democratizing knowledge. The complex building program is divided in
7 intercalated pavements: on the subsoil are the auditorium and the workshops. In the
access floor are the director offices, administrative sector and the great central plaza. Going
up the ramp, there is the coffee shop, the exposition area and the student committee. In the
next pavement there is the library and secretary. In the next, the departments, followed by
the ateliers and, lastly by classrooms.
The 7 year period between the project and inauguration was, in part, due to the political
changes that the country was going thru at that time.
building/ construction:
completed situation:
original situation or character of site:
2. 3 Relevant persons/ organisations
original owner(s)/patron(s): University of São Paulo
architect (s): João Vilanova Artigas (Curitiba,1915 - São Paulo,1985). Having completed his
degree as an engineer-architect at the Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo in
1937, he was appointed (as early as 1940) temporary second assistant there to teach
Aesthetics General Composition and Urbanism I and II. In 1948 he did exams for the public
competition for teachers and started work as a lecturer at the faculty of Architecture and
Urbanism, while still working at the polytechnic school. His long and turbulent career as a
lecturer had no lack of incident and confrontations, being directly affected and severely
restricted by the political situation in Brazil, as Vilanova Artigas was always an influential
and, therefore, difficult to handle figure.
Vilanova Artigas was involved in an impressive and diverse range of activities that ran
parallel to his work as an architect. His concept of practicing his profession meant prioritizing
ethical questions, as shown by the fact that he joined and was active in several associations
such as the IAB (Association of Brazilian Architects), which he joined in 1943 and which
awarded him its Colar de Mérito (order of Merit) in 1967. He also acted as the Brazilian
representative at several congresses and study committees of the International Union of
Architects (UIA). In 1972, the UIA awarded him the Jean Tschumi Prize for his teaching
work over the previous thirty years. I the same year, he was selected to receive the Figure of
1972 award by the IAB – Guanabara Section. In 1977, the American Institute of Architects
made him an honorary member in recognition of his achievements in his profession.
He is one of the most important Brazil’s twentieth-century architects, author of a vast,
coherent body of work. He was a point of reference for modern Brazilian architecture, for the
teaching of architecture and at the ends of 50’s, the man who defined the modern
architecture in São Paulo. He was the artist who gave it its dense, individual forms and
content, creating what the architectural critics come to call the São Paulo School. His work
was fully assimilated by students, teachers and colleagues who had the opportunity to live
and to work at the same period.
landscape/ garden designer(s):
other designer(s): Carlos Cascaldi consulting engineer(s):
building contractor(s): Fundusp – Special Public Organization for the University Campus
construction.
2.4 Other persons or events associated with the building(s)/site name(s):
association:
event(s):
period:
2. 5 Summary of important changes after completion
type of change: alteration/ renovation/ restoration/ extension/ other:
date(s):
circumstances/reasons for change
effects of changes:
persons/ organizations involved:
3. Description of building{s) etc.
3. 1 Site/Building character
Summarize main character and give notes on surviving site/building(s)/part(s) of area.
If a site: principle features and zones of influence; main elements in spatial composition. If a
building: main features, construction and materials.
The FAU Building is basically a huge rectangular volume organized around a great internal
patio illuminated by zenith lighting. The access is possible by a wide ramp localized at the
southern part, which also unifies the seven interspersed floors, from the underground to the
higher level.
The building clearly express his vision of the world, with open spaces for free movement,
vertical access via ramps, open class rooms for practical classes, a huge square as if
knowledge flowed and was to be enjoyed like the very air. His teaching program of 1962
reflects the concept that architect’s training should be carried out in contact with real life, by
studying concrete cases. This Faculty is probably his greatest legacy, not only in terms of
architecture but also in terms of life.
“As an architectural proposal the FAU building defends the thesis of spatial continuity. Its
seven floors are connected by wide, gentle ramps at levels that tend to give the feeling of
one single plane. There is a continuous physical interconnection throughout the building.
The space is open and the divisions practically do not separate the floors but simply give
them a wider function.
It is a school with a simple finish, modest as is appropriate for a school of architecture which
is also a test laboratory. The sensation of spatial generosity which its structure allows
increases the degree of conviviality, of meetings, of communications. Should one give a
shout within the building, one feels the responsibility of having interfered with the entire
environment. There the individual learns, becomes urbanized and gains a spirit of team
work.
The concrete used is not just a more inexpensive solution, but reflects the need to find the
means for artistic expression, using the structure of the building, its most worthy part. For
the architect, the structure of the building should not play the humble role of skeleton, but
should express the grace with which all new materials allow the mastering of the cosmic
forms, with the elegance of greater spans, of lighter forms.
This building depicts the worthy ideals of today: I saw it as a spatialization of democracy, in
dignified spaces, without front doors, as I wanted it as a temple where all activities are valid.”
Artigas
3. 2 Current use
of whole building/ site: School
of principal components (if applicable):
comments:
3. 3 Present (physical) condition
of whole building/ site:
of principal components (if applicable):
of other elements (if applicable):
of surrounding area (if applicable):
comments:
3. 4 Note(s) on context, indicating potential developments
Indicate, if known, potential developments relevant for the conservation/threats of the
building/site
4. Evaluation
.
Give the scientific reasons for selection for docomomo documentation
Intrinsic value
4. 1 technical evaluation:
The FAU building is one of the finest examples of the architectonical proposal so dear to the
modern movement – the spatial continuity. It’s open spaces and interconnected by ample
and soft ramps that articulate themselves with such swiftness that it’s six pavements seem
to be in a single level. The apparent concrete structure: the roof in grills, the pillars and the
lateral facade, was conceived not only as an economic solution, but as an answer to the
craving to find, in the building structure, means of artistic expression.
4. 2 social evaluation:
The FAU/USP building was conceived in perfect harmony with the pedagogical proposal that
was equally innovative. This proposal was influential to every generation that studied in
FAU, both as pedagogical proposal and as architectonic oeuvre. It’s a reference in Brazilian
modern architecture to generations of Brazilian architects. The Marxist culture, widely
spread in Brazil at that moment, is represented by an esthetic that is characterized by the
rusticity and simplification of the building elements: architecture used as an expression of
values of liberty and dignity of the citizen. Values, those, strange to the efficiency notions of
the capitalist world where the use of the technique was a way of covering up the
exploitation. Its an oeuvre based in a poetic exposition of reality.
4. 3 cultural and aesthetic evaluation:
Comparative significance
The boldness of FAU is present in the whole of the project as it is in the isolated
elements. It is also in the fact of it being an architectonical oeuvre that is simple and yet has
great effect.
This boldness is evident in the building’s functional aspects. Specially the fluid spaces
and ingenious structural solution, in which the light and hollowed out covering is supported
by the internal pillars and the lateral walls distribute the labor to the external pillars. It’s
sophisticated design made it widely known in the local architectural culture and the use of
bare concrete, explored in it’s plastic potentiality, consecrated this oeuvre as a paradigm of
the Escola Paulista.
4. 4 canonical status (local, national, international)
FAU/USP is one of the most known and referential works as an example of the
architectonical production known as Escola Paulista, that to this day is a strong reference to
the works of Brazilian architects and is mentioned by foreign critics in compendiums and
critical analysis about the modern movement. In 1972, Artigas won the Jean Tschumi award
for the didactic activities he developed over the previous 30 years. FAU is an inherent part of
those activities.
4. 5 historic and reference values:
FAU/USP is in full use and still maintains, with small adaptations, the didactic activities in a
very satisfactory way, even after 30 years of its project.
5. Documentation
5. 1 archives/written records/ correspondent etc. (state location/ address):
At FAU/USP Library there is a collection of his works consisted of architectural projects,
documents, slides and photographs.
5. 2 principal publications (in chronological order):
FERRAZ, Geraldo - Uma cidade universitária no Brasil: CUASO. In "Zodiac", Milan, n° 11,
1963, pp. 56-77.
Arquitetura, casa nova. In "Folha de São Paulo", São Paulo, 2 Fev.1969.
Arquitetura exponencial no edifício da FAUUSP. In "Dirigente Construtor", São Paulo, n° 9,
vol. 5, July 1969, pp.12-20.
Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da USP: grande prêmio internacional na X Bienal de
São Paulo. In "Acrópole", São Paulo, n° 366, October 1969, pp. 16-21; n° 377, Set. 1970,
pp. 15-17.
FAU: o retrato da arquitetura brasileira. In "A Construção São Paulo", São Paulo, n° 1334, 3
September 1973, pp. 36-40.
Bienal de Arquitetura, Salas especiais: Vilanova Artigas. In "CJ Arquitetura", São Paulo, n°
3, Ano 1, November 1973, pp. 160-172.
Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo: análise de Eduardo
Carona. In "AB Arquitetura Brasileira", n° 8, 1973, pp. 74-81.
USP, a maior universidade do Brasil. In "Manchete", Rio de Janeiro, n° 1173, Ano 21,
October 1974, pp. 88-89.
Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da USP (7967). In "A Construção São Paulo", São
Paulo, n° 1745,20 July 1981, p. 21.
Artigas, a força e a beleza da arquitetura brasileira. In "Voz da Unidade", São Paulo, 30
January 1981.
Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP. In
"Projeto", n° 42, July 1982, p. 113.
Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo, SP. In "Módulo" [nO
especial Vilanova Artigas], Rio de Janeiro, June 1985, pp. 66-67.
THOMAZ, Dalva - -Vilanova Artigas: desenhar é preciso, viver também é preciso. In "AU Arquitetura e Urbanismo", São Paulo, n° 50, Oct.-Nov. 1993, p. 86.
MEDEIROS; Jotabê - Reaberta a maior biblioteca de arquitetura do país. In "O Estado de
São Paulo", São Paulo, 17 Jun. 1998.
BROADBENT, Geoffrey - Brazil Still Builds: Vilanova Artigas and Affonso Eduardo Reidy.
AA Exhibition Gallery, 226 June 1998. In "AA Files", London, n° 37, Autumn 1998, pp. 5662.
MACUL, Márcia - Lugar de idéia. In "AU - Arquitetura e Urbanismo", São Paulo, n° 80, ano
14, Oct.-Nov. 1998.
CORONA, Eduardo; LEMOS, Carlos Alberto Cerqueira. Dicionário da arquitetura brasileira.
São Paulo: Edart, 1972.
FERRAZ, Marcelo Carvalho (coord. ed.) - Vilanova Artigas. São Paulo: Instituto Lina Bo e P.
M. Bardi e Fundação Vilanova Artigas, 1997.
LEMOS, Carlos Alberto Cerqueira - Arquitetura Brasileira. São Paulo. Editora
Melhoramentos & Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, 1979.
BRUAND, Yves. Arquitetura contemporânea no Brasil. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 1981
ACAYABA, Marlene Milan & FICHER, Silvia. Arquitetura moderna brasileira. São Paulo:
Projeto, 1982.
XAVIER, Alberto et al - Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da USP. In "Arquitetura
moderna paulistana". São Paulo: Pini, 1983.
KAMITA, João Massao. Vilanova Artigas. São Paulo: Cosac&Naify, 2000.
RIBEIRO, Rogério (org.) A cidade é uma casa. A casa é uma cidade. Vilanova Artigas
Arquiteto. Almada: Casa da Cerca, 2000.
5. 3 visual material (state location/ address)
original visual records/ drawings/ photographs/ others:
recent photographs and survey drawings:
Internal View
Blueprint
film/video/ other sources:
5. 4 list documents included in supplementary dossier
6. Fiche report
name of reporter: Mônica Junqueira
address:
telephone: 55 11 3815-2421
Fax:
e-mail: [email protected]
date of report: June/2004
examination by DOCOMOMO national/regional section
approval by working party co-ordinator/registers correspondent (name): Mirthes Ivany
Soares Baffi
sign and date: June/2004
examination by DOCOMOMO ISC/R
name of ISC member in charge of the evaluation: comment(s):
sign and date:
ISC/R approval:
date:
working party/ref. n° :
NAi ref. nº :