Constructed Geographies: Paulo Mendes da Rocha is the first major retrospective publication on the Brazilian Pritzker laureate since the establishment of his archive at the Casa da Arquitectura, mapping a career that reshaped São Paulo and modernism's global reach.
About This Book
Paulo Mendes da Rocha (1928–2021) built across seven decades with a philosophy that exceeded the Brutalist label often applied to him. His work is inseparable from the geography, social history, and postcolonial condition of South America — and this volume, edited by Jean-Louis Cohen and Vanessa Grossman, takes that continental dimension seriously. A team of international scholars examines his trajectory not as a sequence of discrete commissions but as a collective intellectual project, tracing his concern with the anthropogenic transformation of the landscape and its political stakes. Centred on twelve key buildings, the catalogue repriints two significant essays and assembles thematic scholarship that will ground future study of Brazilian modernism.
Key Features
- 432 pages of scholarly essays, thematic studies, and architectural documentation
- Edited by Jean-Louis Cohen and Vanessa Grossman, with contributions from a team of international scholars
- Focused analysis of twelve major buildings, including the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture and the renovation of the Pinacoteca do Estado
- Published by Yale University Press, 2021
What You'll Discover
- How Mendes da Rocha's architecture engages the geographic relationship between nature and culture specific to the South American continent
- The social and anthropogenic dimensions of his approach to urban development, and how colonial history shaped his architectural thinking
- The structural daring and site intelligence of key works — including his own house and the audacious metallic interventions at the Pinacoteca do Estado
- The collective character of his practice and the archival foundations now enabling rigorous future scholarship on contemporary Brazilian architecture
About the Author
Jean-Louis Cohen is a distinguished architectural historian and the editor of this volume, joined by co-editor Vanessa Grossman. The book draws on contributions from a broad team of international scholars convened around the establishment of Mendes da Rocha's archive at the Casa da Arquitectura in 2021.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 432
- Dimensions: 28.1 x 21.5 x 3.5 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780300275452
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication Date: 2021
Perfect For: Architects, architectural historians, and researchers with an interest in Brazilian modernism, Pritzker laureates, and the social and geographic dimensions of twentieth-century practice.