Paulo Mendes da Rocha
Harmony, desire, humanity
A man
Brazilian architect, Paulo Archivas Mendes da Rocha was born in Vitoria the 25th of October in 1928. He had his degree at the School of Architecture and city planning of Sao Paulo.
A city
If Oscar Niemeyer is closed to Brasilia, Paulo Mendes is closed to Sao Paulo and, with other modern brazilian architects, is making of this movement a strong identity of Brazil. The young town will be the cradle of brutalism and the biggest icon. At the top of a futur turned to technology and industry, Sao Paulo has most of the Paulo Mendes masterpieces.
A masterpiece
He is the author of few polemic projects which divides critics like the Brazilian museum of sculptures and the gate in Praca do Patriarca, both of them in Sao Paulo. His most recent projects are one of the Montevideo bay (in Uruguay) and the coaches museum in Lisbon.
For him "the architecture is the transformation of nature if not the fusion of science, art and technology". His projects of Paulistano Athletic Club stadium and the sculpture museum of Sao Paulo have a surprising lightness despite to their dimensions. He works also in design and art, he drew a chair becoming famous again, la Paulistano.
Some rewards
Very rewarded architect, Paulo Mendes da Rocha received the Pritzker Price in 2006, the Premium Imperiale discerned by the Japan Art association and a Golden Lion of the Venise architecture Biennale for his entire work.
Some words
« All space must be attached to a value, to a public dimension. There is no private space. The only space that you can imagine is the human mind.»
« The ideal project does not exist, each time there is the opportunity to realize an approximation. »
« The transformation of nature, a total fusion of science, art and technology in a sublime statement of human dignity and intelligence through the settlements we build for ourselves. »
Paulo Mendes da Rocha
(1928)
Drawing