Architecture as Civil Commitment: Lucio Costa's Modernist Project for Brazil

Gaia Piccarolo is Adjunct Professor of History of Contemporary Architecture and Landscape at the Politecnico di Milano and member of the editorial staff of the architectural magazine Lotus International. She received her PhD in History of Architecture and Urban Planning from Politecnico di Torino in 2010, with a thesis on Lucio Costa’s public charges during the Vargas Era. She curated several exhibitions and published extensively on contemporary architecture and urban planning, with special reference to Brazilian modernism and the circulation of ideas and models between Europe and the Americas. Her research has been presented in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Brazil in the framework of international seminars and conferences.

• Foreword Fernando LaraIntroduction The start of a militant career: the direction of the School of Fine ArtsThe young director of the School of Fine ArtsA discreet revolutionThe Salão dos TenentesReport of a failure Reasons of the new architecture: Gustavo Capanema’s grands travauxs A history to reconsiderThe great public assignments and Capanema’s "dossier"New architecture, between theory and practiceLe Corbusier and the appel à l’AutoritéNegotiations and lost opportunities A programme for national architecture: the years of the Estado NovoStruggles and compromisesToward a State architectureA genealogy of modern Brazilian architectureA rising intellectualisationModernism and national heritage A strategy of mediation: between the CIAM and the SPHANShaping national heritageDealing with historical pre-existenceThe colonial roots of Brazilian architectureBaroque and national personalityBrazilian houses Shaping the true Machine Age: art, city, landscapeParisian experiencesArt and the emancipation of the massesIn search of a new monumentalityA maquisard in urban planningLandscape and urbanismA new humanism