Brazilian bus stations between 1960s and 1970s: representations and imaginaries of a modern country

• Grant number: 18/07124-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: July 01, 2018
• End date: March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Gil Garcia de Barros
• Grantee: Diogo Augusto Mondini Pereira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This master research proposes a critical evaluation about the projects and works of bus stations in Brazil during the 1960s and 1970s decades. The elected temporal cut, further than an epoch of expanded growth of road system and transportation in the country, in which the bus station stands as an urban reflect of this nationwide transformation, frames two opposite movements: in one hand the construction of Brasilia, with its bus station, called road platform, in strategic central position, representing the central square of the city; in other hand the deactivation of São Paulo's bus station in central Luz district in the early years of 1980s, meaning therefore the transfer of long distance bus services to more periferical areas such as Barra Funda, Vila Guilherme and Jabaquara districts, in structures secluded from street level and regular urban life.In several architectures of the appointed period, the public trace and the building's integration within the city's structure and urban life are characteristcal of the modernist thought and its desire of social and spatial integration. Following such logic a modest program as the bus station could turn into a significant, sometimes monumental, building, which became an urban icon in many cases. It was precisely in this period that important examples of bus stations were built such as the above mentined Brasilia's bus station (the road platform) and Jau's bus station designed by important brazilian modernists architects: Lucio Costa and Vilanova Artigas, respectively. There are also several other examples of modernist bus stations from the 1960s and 1970s, sometimes anonymous, within brazilian cities from diverse sizes and regions. This research intends a critical study about the representations and imaginaries of such architectures in Brazil, identifying the notable examples, the similarities and disparities within the program and the investigation of possible imaginaries of modern country that follows such constructions. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PEREIRA, Diogo Augusto Mondini. Brazilian bus terminals between 1960s and 1970s: representations and imaginaries of a modern country. 2020. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI) São Paulo.