The architect and the production of the city: the experience of Jacques Pilon in perspective 1930-1960

Author(s)

Joana Mello de Carvalho e Silva

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2010-05-28

Examining board members

Ana Lucia Duarte Lanna; Renato Luiz Sobral Anelli; Adrián Gustavo Gorelik; Jose Tavares Correia de Lira; Heloisa André Pontes

• Advisor: Ana Lucia Duarte Lanna

Abstract

Portrayed as a pragmatic man, more a manager than an architect, who owns a firm linked to the real estate market that built hundreds of buildings in São Paulo, Jacques Pilon (1905-1962) had not received a more detailed study of his work until now. If the extensive production is not equivalent to his reputation in the historiography of the Brazilian architecture, the massive presence of his buildings in the city, in particular in the downtown area, indicated that his contribution to the construction of São Paulo and to the affirmation of a certain image of modernity deserved more attention. This work traces the trajectory of Pilon and his role as an architect in São Paulo between 1930 and 1960. Without intending to draw an intellectual biography or to develop a monograph, the research retrieves the experience of this French architect in the tropics and from it investigates the contribution of foreign architects to build the city, tracing the formation of the architectural field in Brazil, the history of São Paulo and its architecture in this period. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 06/51311-2 - The travels of foreign architects, the criticism and architectural production in São Paulo, 1940-1960
• Grantee: Joana Mello de Carvalho e Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate