Luís Saia: modernist dialogues in architectural conformation of São Paulo: 1936-1974

• Grant number: 14/00187-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2014
• End date: February 28, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Abilio da Silva Guerra Neto
• Grantee: Fausto Barreira Sombra Junior
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Being immersed in the national modernist ideal from the 20th century's second quarter, in the mid-1930s, when he was still an architecture-engineering student at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, Luís Saia began his intense intellectual and practical production related to the study, advocacy and intervention of the tangible and intangible heritage. He worked closely with important names such as Dina Lévi-Strauss, Mário de Andrade, Rodrigo Mello Franco de Andrade and Lúcio Costa, and also had connections with many other major professionals dealing with architectural theory and practice, such as Vilanova Artigas, Eduardo Kneese de Mello, Lina Bo Bardi, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Nestor Goulart Reis Filho and others. Based on this brief background, this research will seek to identify and group the possible themes that are linked to the architect's professional profile by selecting the main dialogues and aspects with which he developed his most significant actions. To establish a specific time frame, we will focus on the period from 1935 - when Saia probably began his partnership with Mário de Andrade - to 1974, when the architect organized the Specialization Course on Architectural Monument and Urban Set Restoration and Conservation at FAU at Nestor Goulart Reis Filho and Ulpiano Bezerra de Menezes' invitation. This effort may be considered his last major work. Throughout the development and systematization of these groups, we aim to ratify the polyphonic background of this important character that is still so sparsely known and acknowledged, highlighting the modern thought noticed in his writings and publications, which helped to foster the important debate about the national and state architectural heritage. (AU)