Architect · Brazil · 1915-1985
Vilanova Artigas Biography, Buildings and Best Books
Brazilian architect and teacher (1915-1985), founder of the Paulista School, whose FAU-USP building and concrete houses in São Paulo shaped Brazilian Brutalism.
Photo: Thaismay, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Biography
João Batista Vilanova Artigas (1915-1985) was a Brazilian architect and educator, regarded as the founder of the Paulista School of architecture. His concrete houses and public buildings in São Paulo, above all the building of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP), with its great open interior under a single roof, expressed a social vision of architecture as a space for democracy and collective life.
Curitiba and São Paulo
Artigas was born in Curitiba in 1915 and studied engineering and architecture at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo, graduating in 1937. Early houses in São Paulo were influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, whose work he admired, before he moved toward the rationalism of Le Corbusier and the Brazilian modernists.
Houses and the Paulista School
His second house for his own family (1949) and the many houses he built in São Paulo in the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Elza Berquó House (1967), with its tree trunks as columns, developed a language of exposed concrete, ramps, interior courtyards and continuous spaces. With Paulo Mendes da Rocha and others, this became known as the Paulista School of Brazilian Brutalism.
FAU-USP
Artigas helped found the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo in 1948 and designed its building on the university campus, completed in 1969. Six levels of studios, library and workshops are connected by wide ramps under a single concrete roof of skylights, creating a vast open space intended for free exchange among students and teachers.
Exile, return and legacy
A member of the Brazilian Communist Party, Artigas was briefly imprisoned after the 1964 military coup and spent time in exile in Uruguay, and in 1969 the regime removed him from his teaching post. He also designed the Morumbi Stadium and public housing. He returned to teaching only in 1984, shortly before his death in São Paulo in 1985. The FAU-USP building is now named after him.
2G: João Vilanova Artigas
The 2G issue presents Artigas’s houses and public buildings with new photography and essays, including one by Kenneth Frampton.
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Timeline
- 1915Born on 23 June in Curitiba.
- 1937Graduates from the Escola Politécnica in São Paulo.
- 1948Helps found the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at USP.
- 1949Completes his second house in São Paulo.
- 1960The first phase of the Morumbi Stadium opens.
- 1967Completes the Elza Berquó House.
- 1969Completes the FAU-USP building; removed from teaching by the military regime.
- 1984Returns to teaching at FAU-USP.
- 1985Dies on 12 January in São Paulo.
Best Books on Vilanova Artigas
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Vilanova Artigas known for?
Vilanova Artigas is known as the founder of the Paulista School of Brazilian architecture, for the FAU-USP building in São Paulo and for concrete houses such as his own house and the Elza Berquó House.
What are Vilanova Artigas’s most famous buildings?
His best-known works include the FAU-USP building, his houses in São Paulo, the Elza Berquó House, the Morumbi Stadium and public schools and housing in São Paulo state.
What is the best book on Vilanova Artigas?
The 2G issue on João Vilanova Artigas, with essays by Kenneth Frampton and others, is the best English-language introduction. Vilanova Artigas in the Brazilian Architects series offers a bilingual overview.
What is Vilanova Artigas’s architectural style?
Artigas worked in Brazilian Brutalism: exposed concrete, ramps, large roofs and open, continuous interiors designed to encourage collective life, with a strong social and political commitment.
Where can I see Vilanova Artigas’s architecture?
You can visit the FAU-USP building on the University of São Paulo campus and see the Morumbi Stadium. Many of his houses are private but can be seen from the street in São Paulo.
