Affonso E. Reidy, Carmen Portinho, Pedregulho Housing Complex, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1948-1960. Alfredo Britto, restoration, 2005-2015. © César Barreto, 2015.
Preserving a modern housing model

the restoration of Pedregulho Housing Neighborhood

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/65.A.EMTOIA80

Keywords:

Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing, Post-war housing, Welfare architecture, Mass housing, Rio de Janeiro modern architecture, Pedregulho Housing Neighborhood, Carmen Portinho, Affonso Reidy, Restoration of modern architecture

Abstract

This paper examines the history of Pedregulho Housing Neighborhood, built between 1948 and 1960 by the Department of Popular Housing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the first concepts to the restoration in 2015. Conceived by the urbanists Carmen Portinho and Affonso E. Reidy, it became one of the most emblematic works of modern Brazilian architecture. After years of neglect, in 2015 housing Block A of the neighborhood underwent restoration, one of the only such projects on social housing complexes in Latin America. The paper discusses the housing complex’s history, focusing on the intervention and restoration project, its criteria and challenges, and also the aims and demands by the residents during the works.

How to Cite

do Nascimento, F. B. (2021). Preserving a modern housing model: the restoration of Pedregulho Housing Neighborhood. Docomomo Journal, (65), 2–35. https://doi.org/10.52200/65.A.EMTOIA80

Published

2021-07-01

Issue

No. 65 (2021): Housing for All

Section

Essays

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Author Biography

Flávia Brito do Nascimento, Universidade de São Paulo

(Brazil, 1972) Historian, architect, and Professor at the University of São Paulo, School of Architecture and Urbanism. Post-doctoral fellow at Université de Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne (2019-2020). Wrote several articles on heritage, social housing and Modern Movement in Brazil and the book Blocos de Memórias: habitação social, arquitetura moderna e patrimônio cultural (2016).

References

BONDUKI, Nabil (org.), Affonso Eduardo Reidy, São Paulo, Editorial Blau, 2000.

BRITTO, Alfredo (org.), Pedregulho: o sonho pioneiro da habitação popular no Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Edições de Janeiro, 2015.

GAP/Grupo de Arquitetura e Planejamento, Plano Estratégico – Projeto de Recuperação do Conjunto Residencial Prefeito Mendes de Moraes/Pedregulho, Rio de Janeiro, GAP/CEHAB, 2004.

KOURY, Ana Paula, “Modern housing estates and the production of the Brazilian city (1937–1960)”, Planning Perspectives, Vol. 24, 2019.

NASCIMENTO, Flávia Brito do, Blocos de memórias: habitação social, arquitetura moderna e patrimônio cultural, São Paulo, Edusp, 2016.

NASCIMENTO, Flávia Brito do, “Modern Again: Tradition and Modernity in the Pedregulho Housing Complex in Rio de Janeiro”, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, Vol. XXXI, 2020, 35-49.

NOBRE, Ana Luiza, Carmen Portinho: o moderno em construção, Rio de Janeiro, Relume Dumará/PCRJ, 1999.

SILVA, Helga, Arquitetura moderna para a habitação popular: a apropriação dos espaços no Conjunto Residencial Mendes de Morais (Pedregulho), Rio de Janeiro, Master Thesis PRoARQ UFRJ. 2006.