The domestic architecture of the middle class in São Paulo in the 1950s: the modern "good life."

• Grant number: 11/05761-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Roberto Monteiro de Andrade
• Grantee: Maristela da Silva Janjulio
• Home Institution: Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São Carlos (IAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In Casa e Jardim magazine in the 1950s, arises an architecture for the middle class, which we call "good living," whose analysis is our core issue. It uses modern language, which is transmitted to readers in a didactic way. This architecture appears as the setting for a comfortable routine with the help of technique and new products, which are available in those years. These products promote a major renovation in the habits and customs of the urban middle class, with the United States and American life as models. The context where it arises the "good life" is the Brazilian modernization, particularly the metropolis of São Paulo, with economic, social, political and cultural transformations.