University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture

Spring 2019

latin american 20th century architecture

Instructor: Fernando Lara

Thursdays 8-11 BTL 101

This course focuses on the artistic and cultural practices of

modernism as it emerged south of the Rio Grande. Starting from

Garcia Canclini’s provocative definition of modernism before

modernization, the course uses modern architecture as a

departure point for investigating the political, social and economic

factors as well as the artistic expression of what has been called

"peripheral modernization" in the twentieth century. The course

will focus especially on Brazil, but will also consider the cases of

Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Uruguay and Colombia. Organized

mostly around discussions and student presentations, the course

requires students to analyze artistic and cultural manifestations of

a variety of modernist movements. The first half of the course is

devoted to the ideas behind the concepts of modernity,

modernization and modernism, paying special attention to the

ways these concepts and their periodization vary in different

national contexts. The second half of the course uses Latin

American Modern Architecture as a case study for exploring how

these concepts were expressed through a specific artistic form.

Students will then produce an original final paper on a case study

of their choice.

fernandolara@utexas.edu

ASSIGNMENTS:

Student should read the assigned texts for each class, write a

paragraph on Blackboard before each meeting, and be prepared

to discuss the main issues when prompted. Participation on the

discussions is an integral part of the evaluation. Each student will

make at least one presentation on a topic of their choice (20% of

grade). Besides class participation, 2 short essays and a final

paper will be required. Before the final papers are due, one section

will be devoted to presenting the scope of their investigations to be

discussed by the whole class.

1st short paper - 15% of grade

due Feb 21

5-7 pages reflecting on the ideas of modernism, modernization and

modernity as discussed in the first 3 sections

2nd short paper - 20% of grade

due March 28

5-7 pages reflecting on the peripheral modernisms based on the

previous presentations.

model exercise – 15% of grade

due April 25

create a sectional model of one building in a 1’=1/8” scale, in bass

wood.

final paper - 30% of grade

due May 9

10-15 pages on a theme of your choice regarding any aspect of 20th

century architecture in Latin America.

Prof. Lara Office hours are Thursday 11-1pm, WMB 4.116

SCHEDULE and READINGS:

jan 24 introduction and course presentation

LARA, F. "Urbis Americana: Thoughts on our shared (and exclusionary)

traditions", preface of Urban Latin America: Images, Words, Flows and the Built Environment, edited by Freire-Medeiros & O'Donnel, New York: Routledge, 2018.

jan 31 the modern

ANDERSON, Perry. “Modernity and Revolution”, New Left Review, (1984). O’GORMAN, Edmundo. “The invention of America: an inquiry into the

historical nature of the New World and the meaning of its history”, Bloomington: U of Indiana Press, 1961.

BHABHA, Homi “Introduction: narrating the nation” in Homi Bhabha ed.

Nation and Narration (London; New York: Routledge) 1990:1-7. HABERMAS, Jungen. “Modernity’s Consciousness of Time and it’s Need for

Self-Reassurance”, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987), 1-11.

feb 7 peripheral modernisms

PRAKASH, Vikramâditya, “Third World Modernism or Just Modernism: towards

a cosmopolitan reading of modernism”, in Third World Modernism, New York: Routledge, 2011, pp. 255-269

LIERNUR, J.F. “Foreword”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin:

University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. xi-xiii. SAID, Edward W., Introduction to Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books, 1978,

1-28. ESCOBAR, Arturo. “Worlds And Knowledges Otherwise.” Cultural Studies 21,

no. 2–3 (March 1, 2007): 179–210.

feb 14 Intro Latin American Modernisms

WAISMAN, Mariana “Introduction” Latin American architecture: six voices Malcolm

Quantrill, (College Station: Texas A&M University Press) 2000, pp. 3-19.

HERNANDEZ, Felipe. “Introduction” in Beyond Modernist Masters:

Contemporary architecture in Latin America, Basel: Birkhauser, 2010, pp.6-23.

EGGENER, Keith “Placing Resistance: A Critique of Critical Regionalism”,

Journal of Architectural Education 55, no. 4 (May 2002) LOPEZ-DURAN, Fabiola, “ Chapter 4 – Picturing Evolution, Le Corbusier and

the Remaking of Man” in Eugenics in the Garden, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018.

feb 21 first paper due

Mexico I CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1922 Vasconcellos SEP and 1933 O”Gorman

Platicas”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 23-27 and 73-76.

EGGENER, Keith L, The presence of the past: architecture and politics in

modern Mexico, A + U: architecture and urbanism, 2003 Feb., n.2(389), p.[18]-29

FRASER, Valerie, “Mexico” Building the New World: Studies in the Modern

Architecture of Latin America, 1930-1960, 2000:22-86. GALLO, Ruben. Mexican Modernity: the avant-garde and the technological

revolution, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005.

feb 28

Mexico II, Cuba CASTAÑEDA, Luis, “Beyond Tlateloco: Design, Media and Politics at Mexico

68”, Gray Room, no. 100, summer 2010, pp. 100-126. LOOMIS, John. Revolution of forms: Cuba's forgotten art schools, New York : Princeton

Architectural Press, 1999. EGGENER, Keith, “Postwar modernism in Mexico”: Journal of the Society of

Architectural Historians v. 58 no. 2 (June 1999) p. 122-45 CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1980 Barragan; 1994 NAFTA; 2000 GGG

House”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015.

mar 7 Argentina/Chile LIERNUR, Jorge Francisco, “Abstraction, Architecture and the ‘Synthesis of the

Arts’ debates in the Rio de La Plata, 1936-1956”, in Latin American Architecture 1929-1960 – contemporary reflections, New York: Monacelli Press, 2004, pp. 75-98.

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1959 Clorindo Testa”, in Modern Architecture in

Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 64-68 and 210-213.

TORRENT, Horácio. “Abstraction and tectonics in Chilean Architecture since

1950”, in Chilean Modern Architecture, College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2010.

HERNANDEZ, Felipe. “Designing for Poverty” in Beyond Modernist Masters:

Contemporary architecture in Latin America, Basel: Birkhauser, 2010, pp.58-75.

mar 14 spring break – no class mar 21

Uruguay + Paraguay

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1930 Uruguay”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 64-68 and 210-213.

El Taller Torres-García: The School of the South and Its Legacy (Austin: The

University of Texas Press, 1992), ARANA, Mariano, “Eladio Dieste, Techniques and Poetics”, in Latin American

architecture: six voices Malcolm Quantrill, (College Station: Texas A&M University Press) 2000, pp. 21-50.

Chapter on Paraguay?

mar 28 second paper due

Brazil I FORTY, Adrian + ANDREOLI, Elisabetta, “Round Trip: Europe to Brazil &

Back”, in: Brazil’s Modern Architecture, London: Phaidon, 2004. 6-19 GUERRA, Abilio, “Lucio Costa, Gregory Warchavchik and Roberto Burle

Marx”, in Architecture and Nature: Essays by Abilio Guerra (Lara & Romano, editors); São Paulo: RG + Nhamerica, 2017, pp. 34-43.

LARA, Fernando. “One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: The Maneuvering of

Brazilian Avant-Garde”. Journal of Architectural Education, v. 55/4, 2002, p. 211-219.

LARA, Fernando. “Brazilian Architecture and the Automobile, the Marriage of

the Century”, in City and Movement: Mobility and Interactions in Urban Development (Krause, Balbin & Link, organizers), Brasília: IPEA, 2016, pp. 125-136

apr 4 Brazil II

LARA, Fernando. “Incomplete Utopias: imbedded inequalities in Brazilian

modern architecture”, Architectural Review Quarterly, vol 15 n. 2, August 2011, pp. 131-138.

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1956 Brasilia; 1961 Paulista school”, in Modern

Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 199-205 and 218-220.

LARA, Fernando, “Vernacular Modernism: the Brazilian case”, Journal of

Architectural Education, October 2009.

WILLIAMS, Richard “Brazil’s Legacies”, Brazil – modern architectures in history, London: Reaktion Books, 2009, pp. 143-161.

apr 11

Colombia

ARANGO, Silvia, “Rogelio Salmona In His Context”, in in Latin American architecture: six voices Malcolm Quantrill, (College Station: Texas A&M University Press) 2000, pp. 116-144.

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1951 PROA; 1952 University campi; 2000

Colombian renaissence”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 159; 162-169; 193-196; and 339-342.

HERNANDEZ, Felipe. “Building on the City’s Edge” in Beyond Modernist

Masters: Contemporary architecture in Latin America, Basel: Birkhauser, 2010, pp24-41.

MONGRAGON, Hugo. Colombia I, II and III, articles at AOA, Chile, 2018.

apr 18 Venezuela

BLACKMORE, Lisa. “Introduction: Rethinking The Politics And Aesthetics Of

Modernity”, Spectacular Modernity: Dictatorship, Space, and Visuality in Venezuela, 1948-1958, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1952 University campi; 1955 Tachira and

Helicoide”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 159; 162-169; 193-196; and 339-342.

apr 25 No class – Lara at Society of Architectural Historians

may 2

The 21st century

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. “1994 Quae Sera Tamen; 1994 NAFTA; Islands no more”, in Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 329-337 and 351-360.

LARA, Fernando. “Reconciling Design and Construction: Lessons from the

Americas”, AULA Architecture and Urbanism in Las Americas, vol 7, 2018, pp. 24-31.

may 9

final papers are due

suggested readings:

BAYON, Damian, The changing shape of Latin American architecture : conversations with ten leading architects- Panorámica de la arquitectura latino-americana, New York : Wiley, 1979.

CARRANZA, L & LARA, F. Modern Architecture in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015, pp. 199-205 and 218-220.

DEL RIO, Vicente, Beyond Brasilia: Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil, Gainesville, UPF, 2009.

HERNANDEZ, Felipe (et alli), Transculturation – Cities, Spaces and Architectures in Latin America, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005.

LARA, Fernando. The Rise of Popular Modernist Architecture in Brazil, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008.

LEJEUNE, Jean-François, Cruelty & utopia : cities and landscapes of Latin America , New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 2005

SKIDMORE & SMITH, Modern Latin America, Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2001

SKIDMORE, Thomas, Brazil Five Centuries of Change, Oxford: Oxford U Press, 1999

SULLIVAN, Edward (editor), Latin American Art in the Twentieth Century, London: Phaidon, 2000.

Acknowledgements:

In this course e-mail will be used as a means of communication with students. You will be responsible for checking your e-mail regularly for class work and announcements.

All students should become familiar with the University's official e-mail student notification policy. It is the student's responsibility to keep the University informed as to changes in his or her e-mail address. Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and regular basis in order to stay current with University-related communications, recognizing that certain communications may be time-critical. It is recommended that e-mail be checked daily, but at a minimum, twice per week. The complete text of this policy and instructions for updating your e-mail address are available at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html.

Students with disabilities who require special accommodations need to get a letter that documents the disability from the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students (471-6259 voice or 471-4641 TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing). This letter should be presented to the instructor in each course at the beginning of the semester and accommodations needed should be discussed at that time. Five business days before an exam the student should remind the instructor of any testing accommodations that will be needed.

This course uses Canvas, a Web-based course management system in which a password-protected site is created for each course. Student enrollments in each course are updated each evening. Blackboard can be used to distribute course materials, to communicate and collaborate online, to post grades, to submit assignments, and to take online quizzes and surveys.

You will be responsible for checking the Canvas course site regularly for class work and announcements. As with all computer systems, there are occasional scheduled downtimes as well as unanticipated disruptions. Notification of these disruptions will be posted on the Canvas login page. Scheduled downtimes are not an excuse for late work. However, if there is an unscheduled downtime for a significant period of time, I will make an adjustment if it occurs close to the due date.

Academic Integrity: According to the General Information catalog, “the value of a university degree depends on the absolute integrity of the work done by each student for that degree, a student should maintain a high standard of individual honor in his or her scholastic work” (page98). Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.