Brazil's Modern Architecture

This book is the most comprehensive survey and analysis of Brazilian modern architecture to date, written by a young generation of Brazilian architects and historians for an international audience. Examining the works from the 'inside', and with different critical perspectives, they offer new and compelling readings of the country's architecture. Discussing the works of Oscar Niemayer and Lucio Costa, as well as those by less known but equally respected architects such as Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Vilanova Artigas and Jorge Machado Moreira, they show how modernist ideals were incorporated into a country with a legacy of contrasts and contradictions. The nation that saw the creation of of Brasilia, one of the most utopian projects of the Modern Movement, also witnessed the formation of its built environment at one of the fastest rates in the world, while large parts of the population still lived in precarious accommodation.
Charting post-Brasilia developments, Brazil's Modern Architecture describes how architects today have adapted to the conditions of an increasingly polarized society by developing new strategies that are no less creative, even if sometimes less demonstrative. Illustrated with drawings, historical black and white, and new colour photographs, it also portrays the recent works of young practices, such as MMBB Arquitetos and Una Arquitetos, through a series of case studies.