South American Way: The cultural equipaments design by foreign achitects in Brazil

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on a series of highly visible cultural facility projects designed in recent years in Brazil by renowned foreign architects. Based on an analysis of the foreign view of the country, the text discusses how architects from different sociocultural contexts respond to the distinctive characteristics of the place, and the possibilities for cultural, urban and architectural transformation that their works may contain. As a backdrop, it contextualizes aspects of the cultural background of Latin American countries, in addition to questioning the vision that has historically been constructed of the subcontinent. To this end, the article investigates the confrontation and cultural dialogues in: the Iberê Camargo Foundation (1998-2008), by Álvaro Siza; the City of the Arts (2002-2013), by Christian de Portzamparc; the Museum of Tomorrow (2011-2015), by Santiago Calatrava; and the Museum of Image and Sound (2009-under construction), by Diller Sofidio + Renfro. These works are part of broader political and urban projects, which certainly resonate with points of view that, although they are not founded in Brazil, build narratives about how the country is seen or how it would like to be seen.