PS05 U.S. Design Influence in Twentieth-Century Latin American Architecture 8:30 - 10:40am Thursday, 30th April, 2020 Location Salon C, 2nd Floor Track Track 1 Session Chair Perla Santa Ana Lozada

All session times are in US PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME (PDT).

8:35 - 8:55am

PS05 Transference of American Building Technology: Milliken Brothers of NY in Mexico

Lucia SantaAna UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico

Abstract

Mexico at the turn of the Twenty Century got into a period of its history in which the government finally stabilizes politically and economically the country, and look to demonstrate it through the creation of different public buildings all along with the country but mainly in Mexico City.

In order to create these buildings, Mexico had to import most of the construction materials and building systems as at the time in Mexico did not exist an iron or cement industry. It is a common believed the main influence of Mexico along this period came from European countries, and in some aspects, it happened that way but at the industrial and scientific development the through it vicinity played an important role in this development. Through the common benefit of both countries the iron industry in Monterrey, Mexico started to develop as its main clients were American railroads.

This symbiotic relation influenced the importance that American building contractors such as Milliken Brothers played at the development of taller modern buildings in Mexico City, in which the soil conditions are complicated as it is a compressible soil susceptible to strong earthquakes movements, allowing the construction of buildings that could be considered the tallest at their time of construction in the city.

In this paper through the analysis of some of the works made by Milliken Brothers of NY in Mexico City, seeks to demonstrate how the transference of technology helped advance the building technology in the country, allowing building complex and taller buildings in a place with soil complexities such as Mexico City. 8:55 - 9:15am

PS05 The Friendship of Marcel Breuer and Eduardo Catalano and its Influence on Latin American Architecture.

Miguel Angel Calvo Salve Marywood University. School of Architecture, Scranton, USA

Abstract

Marcel Breuer and Eduardo Catalano met for the first time at Harvard Graduate School of Design, between 1943 and 1945, while Breuer was still teaching and Catalano was a student in the Graduate Program. The concept of the bi-nuclear house can be seen for the first time in Breuer’s entry for the California Arts and Architecture competition “Design for Post-War Living” in 1943, and in the same year for Catalano’s project “Casas Económicas: Municipalidad de la Ciudad de ” (Affordable Housing: Buenos Aires Municipality). In 1947, after Breuer was invited to lecture in Buenos Aires, Breuer, Catalano and Coire teamed up on the design for the Ariston Club in Mar del Plata, , built in 1948. The design was clearly inspired by the coffee building for the Garden City of the Future designed by Breuer and Yorke in 1936 in London. Thanks also to Eduardo Catalano, Breuer was encouraged to contact the Colombian architect, Alvaro Ortega, that worked for the Ministerio de Obras Publicas (Ministry of Public Works) of the Republic of Colombia. In 1947, Breuer was hired as a consultant for the Urban Plan of the City of Bogota and the design of several projects, including the city-market building, an affordable housing plan, a hospital, and governmental department offices. Around 1958-59, Breuer also worked with Venezuelan architects on a Recreational apartments project, and The Recreo Urban Center, both in Caracas, where it is possible to observe the North American influence. This paper will explore how the friendship of these two architects, Breuer and Catalano allowed Breuer to participate in the architectural debate in Latin America, through the design of projects, acting as a consultant and publishing his work in Latin American architecture magazines. 9:15 - 9:35am

PS05 Albert Kahn in Brazil

Manuela Catafesta Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Albert Kahn stood out as the leading industrial architect of the early twentieth century, making great contributions to factory design in the United States. The partnership between the architect and the businessman Henry Ford was responsible for the new layout of the industrial building - a space capable of providing the necessary flexibility for the new mass production, independent from any historical architecture aesthetics. By reducing its forms to what was strictly necessary, the industrial building itself became a reference for Modern Architecture. Albert Kahn also became renowned not only for designing Ford’s factories but also for applying the principles of Fordism to his work. Due to a practical and functional organization of his office, Kahn was able to obtain high productivity rates doing several simultaneous projects around the world, including Brazil. This paper has as subject the presentation and analysis of the Ford Motor Company plant, located in São Paulo. Built in 1921, it was the first automobile factory in Brazil to use reinforced concrete and large glass panels, showing a modern aesthetic. Almost 100 years old, the assembly plant, even using innovative constructive technologies and more pure and economic forms, is a subject that has just been unveiled in the Brazilian architectural field. The study of this case also offers an opportunity for a wide understanding the influence of Kahn’s work to the development of Brazilian production, helping to understand the genesis of modern architecture in Brazil. Keywords: Ford Motor Company plant. Albert Kahn. São Paulo. Modern architecture. 9:35 - 9:55am

PS05 An American Modern in Venezuela: The Journey of Don Hatch to Caracas (1948-1959)

Roberto Castillo American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

Abstract

In the 1940s and 1950s, the expansion of the oil industry operated by foreign companies granted the Venezuelan State enough resources to invest in innovative public infrastructure. Local architects influenced by the global modern movement, designed new icons such as the University City, the Simón Bolívar Center, and the residential Superblocks. On the private sector, the growth and consolidation of wealth of the middle class in cities such as Caracas and Maracaibo promoted opportunities for local and foreign architects to design new building typologies that reflected new consumer trends, becoming urban scale laboratories to feature vernacular traditions, climate, technologies, and materials as they merged with foreign principles of design and planning. In search of these opportunities, American architect Don Hatch (1910-1977) moved to Venezuela in 1948 from his practice in to be the chief architect of Nelson Rockefeller’s International Basic Economy Corporation. This paper will examine the evolution of the architectural practice of Oficina Don Hatch in Caracas between 1948 and 1959. In Venezuela and other countries in the region, Don Hatch pioneered building typologies such as shopping malls, auto dealers, office buildings, and factories of American goods. In contrast to the more Le Corbusier-influenced buildings of local architects such as Villanueva and Dominguez, Don Hatch’s architectural practice advances a more contained discourse similar to that of Mies Van Der Rohe. For ten years, Hatch not only designed buildings that are still icons of the mid-century Venezuelan modernity but also contributed to the re-creation of the imaginary of the American landscape in the tropical country. The research includes the examination of existing and demolished buildings of Don Hatch and his archives located in the University of Kansas in Lawrence.