Progress towers: catholic temples of São Paulo at the turn of the 20th century

• Grant number: 17/10769-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2017
• End date: July 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Vladimir Benincasa
• Grantee: Vladimir Benincasa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes e Comunicação (FAAC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

It analyzes the architecture of Catholic temples built during the period of eclecticism, neocolonial and architectural protomodernism in the State of São Paulo, which corresponds to the period of enrichment with coffee plantations, and its influence as symbols of a new republican era and modernity. It aims to raise a sample of specimens built between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, erected or reformed under parameters of eclectic and protomodernist architecture, which preserve its original characteristics. The objective is to document copies of this type of architecture, from 10 to 15 copies, in different regions of São Paulo, of different sizes and hierarchies (from chapels to cathedrals), and to understand its importance and significance in the construction of the urban landscape of São Paulo.Three aspects are analyzed fundamentally, when possible:1 - Historical aspects of the building, for example, date of edification; who were the authors of the projects, their origin and formation; The origin of the labor force used;2 - Technical aspects of the temple, based on constructive and structural elements, techniques used and the origin of the building materials; costs of the work; Source of funding for construction; and,3 - Formal and symbolic aspects, analyzing compositional elements and their meanings within the Catholic canons; the relation with the surrounding landscape, at the time of its construction; the articulation established between the internal and external spaces; And the uses of the internal spaces through the study of the liturgy of the Catholic Church in the period.The research will be done through photographic reading (using photos from the first half of the 20th century); interviews; current photographic and metric surveys; analysis of original projects (if any); and research on primary sources, such as existing documentation in the collections of the churches themselves, in addition to consulting the related bibliography, and periodicals. (AU)