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Steel Life / metallic architectures
S t e e l L i f e, m e t a l l i c a r c h i t e c t u r e s The freedom of a versatile steel A foreword by Roberto Segre The use of
steel in architecture is reaching its third century. The structural revolution
started in the 19th century, in the advanced works by Gustav Eiffel and was
consolidated with the proliferation of business skyscrapers in downtown Chicago.
But the constructive elements – beams and columns – had not yet had an
aesthetic significance, hidden as they were inside masonry boxes and decorated
facades. Mies van der Rohe was the architect who accepted, prepared and disseminated
the formal purity of the steel structure, which, combined with the glass
transparency, has defined the typology of the light box – horizontal and
vertical – used in houses and tall buildings along the 20th century. An extensive
group of architects has been identified with the strict rationalism imposed by industrialized
metal components – serial and normalized: among others, Skidmore, Owings &
Merrill, Craig Ellwood, I. M. Pei, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen. But, at the
same time, the plastic possibilities of steel were evidenced and – just like
reinforced steel – would allow for the conception of free, sculptural forms.
The Russian constructivists were the first to associate steel with a new
avant-garde aesthetics, based on the iconic images that would identify the
advancements of socialism: they are the utopian fantasies by V. E. Tatlin, Ivan
Leonidov and Ja. G. Chernikov.
The rigid
simplicity of the box was left behind when new structural elements emerged,
established by differentiated linear components and articulation knots,
allowing for very large spans, basically developed by Buckminster Fuller and
Konrad Wachsmann in the USA. The criticism about the anonymity of the
International Style starts in the 1950’s with the English New Brutalism and
emerges with the South Hunstanton steel structures by Peter & Alison
Smithson. It was the beginning of a plastic experimentation continued up to the
present days, in the works by Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers; Norman Foster;
Nicholas Grimshaw; and whose formal and structural freedom may be noticed now
at the dawn of the 21st century, with the inventions by Frank Gehry, Santiago
Calatrava, and Herzog & de Meuron. We should also mention the “bird’s nest”
Beijing 2008 Olympic Stadium as an icon of renewed aesthetics based on the
versatility of the steel structure.
The works
by João Diniz are inserted in such a creative dynamics. He belongs in the
avant-garde group that suggested the redemption of the Minas Gerais
architecture, as well as cultural and environmental identity, economically
characterized by successive mining cycles, initially with gold in the colonial
era, and in the 20th century with steel & iron. In architecture, such a new
identity meant to use steel in contraposition to the predominance of the
reinforced concrete as established by Oscar Niemeyer in works built in the
state, especially in Belo Horizonte. The same way as we usually mention the Rio
de Janeiro and Sao Paulo “schools”, now a movement emerges as the Minas Gerais
“school”, led as from the 1970’s by architects such as Éolo Maia, Jô
Vasconcellos, Humberto Serpa, Cid Horta, Álvaro Hardy & Mariza M. Coelho,
Flávio Almada, Sylvio Emrich de Podestá, Gustavo Penna, João Diniz, among
others. They have refused the technocratic language of the military regimen and
the Niemeyer “style” associated to the political power of Juscelino Kubitschek;
and they, instead, adopted Post-modernism as a restoring trend to uphold the
freedom of expression. As a newcomer to the group, João Diniz was able to
simultaneously relate his open sensitivity towards other cultural
manifestations – drawing, photography, sculpture, music, and poetry – to the
versatility of steel structures. The works presented in this book clearly show
the multitude of ways opened up by the use of steel.
The
sculptural possibilities of steel elements are quite visible in the pieces as
presented in the Special Installation at the International Architecture
Biennale in Sao Paulo, in 2003, at the Black Art Festival Portal, and in the
street furniture at the Rio de Janeiro Street, closely relating such
constructive essays to works by Amílcar de Castro and Franz Weissmann. On the
other hand, the “Miesian” heritage is present in the Clube Campestre Locker
Rooms and in the Fumec Principal’s Office; and the studies by Charles and Ray
Eames in the fifties are recalled in the Casexp experimental dwelling project.
The Querubins Gymnasium, with its large covered area, embodies the structural
design of the first works by Norman Foster; as well as the Environmental
Education Mobile Units seem to honor Buckminster
Fuller. The articulation between
closed and open shapes, and the dialogue of different materials, allowing for
integrating the transparencies of steel structures to the solidity of
reinforced steel, masonry and wood, is developed in the urban scale,
represented by the buildings Capri and Scala Workcenter; and adds character to the
original and creative houses designed by Diniz: Eugênia, Marina, KS, Jorge and
Serrana. Last, the formal and spatial innovations that identify the new century
– with their free and flowing steel surfaces – emerge in the Grupo Corpo new
site, in the Air Force Center for Integration and Adaptation (CIAAR) and in the
Fiat Museum. The works evidence not only the inventive ability of João Diniz,
but, and at the same time, his wish to understand and assimilate the renewing
images of our times, evidencing his presence in the universe of Minas Gerais,
Brazil and of the world at large. The anthropophagical theses by Oswald de
Andrade are still present in the 21st century.
Roberto Segre
Rio de
Janeiro, December 14, 2008.
ROBERTO SEGRE
Born in Milan,
Italy (1934). Graduated from the Architecture and Town Planning University,
Buenos Aires (1960), Doctor’s degree in Sciences and Arts, University of
Havana, Cuba (1990), Doctor’s degree in Regional and Urban Planning, Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro (1997). Senior and/or Visiting Professor in
universities in Rio de Janeiro, Havana, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Santo
Domingo, and Lima. Delivered courses and lectures in universities from Latin
America, USA, and Europe. Accepted a number of international awards for his
books. Over 300 essays published on architecture and town planning in Latin
America and the Caribbean; and more than 30 books published on the topics.BOOK CREDITS
Projects and texts: Joao DinizForeword: Roberto Segre
Graphical
design: Hardy/Marchezine Design
Photography
edition: Marcilio Gazzinelli
Proofreading: Arte Comercial – Assessoria
Empresarial
Translation: Arte Comercial – Assessoria
EmpresarialEditor: JJCarol, Sao Paulobuy the book at: http://store-colecaoportfoliobrasil.locasite.com.br/loja/produtos_info.php/products_id/91?PHPSESSID=5bbbb44f2c42cba6d217c4541559f9bb
steel in architecture is reaching its third century. The structural revolution
started in the 19th century, in the advanced works by Gustav Eiffel and was
consolidated with the proliferation of business skyscrapers in downtown Chicago.
But the constructive elements – beams and columns – had not yet had an
aesthetic significance, hidden as they were inside masonry boxes and decorated
facades. Mies van der Rohe was the architect who accepted, prepared and disseminated
the formal purity of the steel structure, which, combined with the glass
transparency, has defined the typology of the light box – horizontal and
vertical – used in houses and tall buildings along the 20th century. An extensive
group of architects has been identified with the strict rationalism imposed by industrialized
metal components – serial and normalized: among others, Skidmore, Owings &
Merrill, Craig Ellwood, I. M. Pei, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen. But, at the
same time, the plastic possibilities of steel were evidenced and – just like
reinforced steel – would allow for the conception of free, sculptural forms.
The Russian constructivists were the first to associate steel with a new
avant-garde aesthetics, based on the iconic images that would identify the
advancements of socialism: they are the utopian fantasies by V. E. Tatlin, Ivan
Leonidov and Ja. G. Chernikov.
The rigid
simplicity of the box was left behind when new structural elements emerged,
established by differentiated linear components and articulation knots,
allowing for very large spans, basically developed by Buckminster Fuller and
Konrad Wachsmann in the USA. The criticism about the anonymity of the
International Style starts in the 1950’s with the English New Brutalism and
emerges with the South Hunstanton steel structures by Peter & Alison
Smithson. It was the beginning of a plastic experimentation continued up to the
present days, in the works by Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers; Norman Foster;
Nicholas Grimshaw; and whose formal and structural freedom may be noticed now
at the dawn of the 21st century, with the inventions by Frank Gehry, Santiago
Calatrava, and Herzog & de Meuron. We should also mention the “bird’s nest”
Beijing 2008 Olympic Stadium as an icon of renewed aesthetics based on the
versatility of the steel structure.
The works
by João Diniz are inserted in such a creative dynamics. He belongs in the
avant-garde group that suggested the redemption of the Minas Gerais
architecture, as well as cultural and environmental identity, economically
characterized by successive mining cycles, initially with gold in the colonial
era, and in the 20th century with steel & iron. In architecture, such a new
identity meant to use steel in contraposition to the predominance of the
reinforced concrete as established by Oscar Niemeyer in works built in the
state, especially in Belo Horizonte. The same way as we usually mention the Rio
de Janeiro and Sao Paulo “schools”, now a movement emerges as the Minas Gerais
“school”, led as from the 1970’s by architects such as Éolo Maia, Jô
Vasconcellos, Humberto Serpa, Cid Horta, Álvaro Hardy & Mariza M. Coelho,
Flávio Almada, Sylvio Emrich de Podestá, Gustavo Penna, João Diniz, among
others. They have refused the technocratic language of the military regimen and
the Niemeyer “style” associated to the political power of Juscelino Kubitschek;
and they, instead, adopted Post-modernism as a restoring trend to uphold the
freedom of expression. As a newcomer to the group, João Diniz was able to
simultaneously relate his open sensitivity towards other cultural
manifestations – drawing, photography, sculpture, music, and poetry – to the
versatility of steel structures. The works presented in this book clearly show
the multitude of ways opened up by the use of steel.
The
sculptural possibilities of steel elements are quite visible in the pieces as
presented in the Special Installation at the International Architecture
Biennale in Sao Paulo, in 2003, at the Black Art Festival Portal, and in the
street furniture at the Rio de Janeiro Street, closely relating such
constructive essays to works by Amílcar de Castro and Franz Weissmann. On the
other hand, the “Miesian” heritage is present in the Clube Campestre Locker
Rooms and in the Fumec Principal’s Office; and the studies by Charles and Ray
Eames in the fifties are recalled in the Casexp experimental dwelling project.
The Querubins Gymnasium, with its large covered area, embodies the structural
design of the first works by Norman Foster; as well as the Environmental
Education Mobile Units seem to honor Buckminster
Fuller. The articulation between
closed and open shapes, and the dialogue of different materials, allowing for
integrating the transparencies of steel structures to the solidity of
reinforced steel, masonry and wood, is developed in the urban scale,
represented by the buildings Capri and Scala Workcenter; and adds character to the
original and creative houses designed by Diniz: Eugênia, Marina, KS, Jorge and
Serrana. Last, the formal and spatial innovations that identify the new century
– with their free and flowing steel surfaces – emerge in the Grupo Corpo new
site, in the Air Force Center for Integration and Adaptation (CIAAR) and in the
Fiat Museum. The works evidence not only the inventive ability of João Diniz,
but, and at the same time, his wish to understand and assimilate the renewing
images of our times, evidencing his presence in the universe of Minas Gerais,
Brazil and of the world at large. The anthropophagical theses by Oswald de
Andrade are still present in the 21st century.
Roberto Segre
Rio de
Janeiro, December 14, 2008.
ROBERTO SEGRE
Born in Milan,
Italy (1934). Graduated from the Architecture and Town Planning University,
Buenos Aires (1960), Doctor’s degree in Sciences and Arts, University of
Havana, Cuba (1990), Doctor’s degree in Regional and Urban Planning, Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro (1997). Senior and/or Visiting Professor in
universities in Rio de Janeiro, Havana, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Santo
Domingo, and Lima. Delivered courses and lectures in universities from Latin
America, USA, and Europe. Accepted a number of international awards for his
books. Over 300 essays published on architecture and town planning in Latin
America and the Caribbean; and more than 30 books published on the topics.BOOK CREDITS
Projects and texts: Joao DinizForeword: Roberto Segre
Graphical
design: Hardy/Marchezine Design
Photography
edition: Marcilio Gazzinelli
Proofreading: Arte Comercial – Assessoria
Empresarial
Translation: Arte Comercial – Assessoria
EmpresarialEditor: JJCarol, Sao Paulobuy the book at: http://store-colecaoportfoliobrasil.locasite.com.br/loja/produtos_info.php/products_id/91?PHPSESSID=5bbbb44f2c42cba6d217c4541559f9bb
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