Lighthouse in São Paulo: the ims paulista and contemporary brazilian architecture

Abstract

The article investigates the genealogy of Andrade Morettin's winning proposal for the new headquarters of the Moreira Salles Institute (IMS) on Paulista Avenue, examining its insertion in the context of Brazilian architectural production – and, in particular, São Paulo architecture – between the end of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st. To this end, it situates the project within the framework of contemporary ways of thinking about and producing architecture, marked by the productive coexistence of cross-references, both national and foreign. Drawing on the lessons of the so-called ‘brutalist tradition’ – considered a guiding principle for the generation of architects trained at FAU-USP in the 1990s – the IMS Paulista project is distinguished by significant transformations in the treatment of form and constructive logic, with an emphasis on the envelope, surface, and materiality. Through the historical method, supported by bibliographic, documentary, and architectural analysis, the articulations between domestic and international influences reflected in the case study were identified. The work of the Andrade Morettin firm is thus nourished by theoretical and design debates in contemporary international architecture, critically reinterpreted by the architects in a break with the self-referential character and closed dialogue with international production that characterised modern Brazilian architectural culture.