Architecture by a thread: robes and shelters of gypsy and nomadic people

Author(s)

João Gabriel Farias Barbosa de Araujo

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2017-04-07

Examining board members

Lara Leite Barbosa de Senne; Francisca Dantas Mendes; Clara Luiza Miranda

• Advisor: Lara Leite Barbosa de Senne

Abstract

This dissertation aims to study the material culture - represented by the architecture and clothing - of societies that maintain or at some point had nomadic behaviors. The research deals with bodies that are in movement, marked by rites and exposed to extreme environmental conditions; Clothing and accessories made to measure and imbued with supernatural powers and dwellings aware of their ephemerality. Its general objective is to study the interrelationships that are established through ephemeral supports such as shelters and costumes. Speci?ically, it seeks to know the processes of production of the nomadic housing space; to seize and identify the process of designing, making and using garments; to perceive the importance of nomadic material culture manifestations for their identity and aesthetics and to look for constructive, visual and aesthetic similarities between nomadic garments and shelters. The dissertation is the result of the bibliographical review of the works of Bernard Rudofsky, Florencia Ferrari, Labelle Prussin, Mark Jarzombek, Mette Bovin, Paul Oliver, Robert Kroenenburg, Torvald Faegre among others; the case study of the Calon Gypsies and four other nomadic societies: Bedouin, Inuit, Tuareg and Wodaabes; visits to the Calon camps in São Paulo and Espírito Santo and interviews with the seamstress specialized in gypsy dresses. This work strengthens the conceptual and practical link between clothing and architecture through the parallel study of these two cultural manifestations. It ?inds that the nomadic clothing goes far beyond the need for protection and the desire for ornamentation, often being related to the cosmology or the myths and beliefs of these societies and reiterates the importance of rethinking the classic and scholarly conceptions of architecture. (AU)