Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Paulo ( Archias ) Mendes da Rocha ( born October 25, 1928 in Vitória, Espírito Santo ) is a Brazilian architect of the modern era. His work was initially influenced by Oscar Niemeyer and João Vilanova Artigas.

Life

Mendes da Rocha studied at the newly founded 1952 Mackenzie University in São Paulo. Since 1954 he runs his architectural office in São Paulo. He was an influential representative of the avant-garde movement that city, where he has since lived and where most of its buildings were built in the 50s. Its geometrically strict concrete buildings stand out because of the complex, nested building sections and spatial arrangements. 2006, the value of his work was recognized with the Pritzker Prize.

His first building, the Clube Atletico Paulistano 1958, a sculptural reinforced concrete structure, was the style for architecture São Paulo. The museum Brasileiro de Escultura he built in 1988. He he was among the finalists in the competition for the new building of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 1998 built Poupatempo ( Portuguese for " save time " ), he takes the concept of a civil office in the dimension of a metropolis. The 300 -meter-long light-filled main hall houses next to the financial and Einwohnermeldeamt also a post office and a police station. The style of his geometrically designed buildings characterizes the use of exposed concrete.

Major works

• Club Athletico Paulistano (1958 )
• Casa Comunista in São Paulo
• Residence Mendes da Rocha in Sao Paulo (1960 )
• Pacaembu House ( 1969)
• Estádio Serra Dourada (1973 )
• Chapel of Saint Peter (Capela de São Paulo) in Campos do Jordao, Sao Paulo, Brazil ( 1987)
• Museu Brasileiro da Escultura - Brazilian Sculpture Museum in the city of São Paulo, Brazil ( 1988)
• Office Buildings " Poupatempo " in São Paulo (1998)
• Museu Nacional dos Coches (2008)

Quote

" Modernism is not a style but a way of life "

Awards

• Mies van der Rohe Prize for Latin American Architecture ( 2000)
• Pritzker Prize (2006)