1914 - 92

 

Lina Bo Bardi was an Italian-born Brazilian modernist architect. A prolific architect and designer, she devoted her working life promoting the social and cultural potential of architecture and design. Her ability to blend architecture, politics and popular culture made her an icon throughout the country and world.

 

Bo Bardi's architecture incorporates both materiality and culture. In addition to the concrete and solidified elements, she designed pieces based on cultural factors and intense political discussions. She wished to break the barriers between intellectuals and everyday people.

 

 

 

SÃO PAULO MUSEUM OF ART (MASP), 1968

 

The building of the Art Museum of Sao Paulo known as MASP is one of the major works of modern architecture in Brazil and one of the icons of the renewal of a city.

 

It consists of a glass-wrapped concrete box containing two floors of galleries, which hovers above a public plaza.The box hangs off two concrete portals, which span 70 metres: the effect is to make the public plaza, which has housed concerts, political protests, a circus and the ordinary wanderings of everyday existence, into a potent place.

 

The building is designed as a container for art to revitalize the area. With a simple architecture, Bo Bardi sought to design a museum that embodied a monumental architecture, urging the sense of the collective.

LINA BO BARDI

BRAZIL