Memory preservation through representations: the record of modernist residential architecture in the city of Ribeirão Preto using the social network Arquigrafia

Abstract

In the XIX century, the city of Ribeirão Preto, in the São Paulo state, southeast region of Brazil, centered wealth from the coffee plantations, being scenery for architectures as interesting as those from other important cities in the inner state of São Paulo. Nowadays, few are the remaining mansions and ‘palacetes’ in downtown rightlyconserved. The preservation of these architectures receive eventual media focus, in an effort of bringing awareness to the city’s population about it’s importance. When we focus on the preservation of the modern residential architecture production, in the beginning of the second half of the XX century, spanning the 1950’s, 1960s and 1970’s, Ribeirão Preto’s architecture does not receive the same attention, and is not properly studied yet. This article, the reflection of an on going masters research, is supported by a preservation questioning, through documentation, interviews with architects and dwellers, and photographs. The analyzed houses are authored by the prime professional architects headquartered in the city, in neighborhoods, at the beginning, strictly residential. When these dwellings begin to be demolished, it is up to the research and the registers of the representations, supported by the social network Arquigrafia, to guarantee that this legacy can be preserved.