Artigas and Architecture School of São Paulo

Abstract

The brutalist architecture designed by architects from Sao Paulo, from mid1950 to mid1970, has been identified by some critics and historians as Paulista School. The outstanding participation of architect João Vilanova Artigas in São Paulo’s intellectual life, as a designer, teacher, active magazine editor and member of the Institute of Architects of Brazil, made him an important cultural reference in that moment, gathering around him a group of young talented architects with whom he knew how to establish a useful communication channel. The close relationship established between such production and Artigas, therefore, is not fortuitous. The combination of a few factors created an extremely favorable environment for this approach: the close relationship between the São Paulo Brutalism with an architectural culture; the Action Plan of the Governor Carvalho Pinto 1959-1963 which opened a unique opportunity of production for São Paulo architects; and the academic restructuring promoted by the University of São Paulo at that time, which stimulated the reflection of a new school, simultaneously with the creation of its new building. The relationship of these issues with the Paulista school is the focus of this analysis.