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Brazilian Modernism and the Identity of Post-War Architecture in Pretoria, South Africa

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Brazilian Modernism and the Identity of Post-War Architecture in Pretoria, South Africa Dossiê Brasil-África do Sul| Paranoá 18 Modern Movement Mediations: Brazilian Modernism and the Identity of Post-War Architecture in Pretoria, South Africa. BARKER, Arthur1 1Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Resumo Abstract A arquitetura brasileira de Oscar Niemeyer ins- The brazilian architecture of Oscar Niemeyer pirou o desenho de um grande número de cons- inspired the design of a number of South African truções sulafricanas. Este artigo contextualiza buildings. This article will contextualise modern as mediações do movimento moderno e aponta movement mediations and will highlight similari- similaridades em aproximação com a identida- ties in approach to identity, context and a range de, contexto e uma série de eficiências a partir of efficiencies through a comparison of Oscar de uma comparação do prédio do Ministério da Niemeyer's 1945 Ministry of Education and Educação do Rio de Janeiro, de Niemeyer, 1945 Health Building in Rio de Janeiro and Helmut e o prédio do Meat Board de Pretoria, de Helmut Stauch's 1952 Meat Board Building in Pretoria. Stauch, 1952. Key-Words: Modern Movement, Brazil Builds, Palavras-Chave: Movimento Moderno, Brasil Hellmut Stauch, Oscar Niemeyer. Builds, Hellmut Stauch, Oscar Niemeyer. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18830/issn.1679-0944.n18.2017.03 Dossiê Brasil-África do Sul| Paranoá 18 Figure 1. Left: Niemeyer's Ministry of Education and Health Building in Rio de Janeiro (Author, 2012). Right: Stauch's Meat Board Building in Pretoria, South Africa (Author, 2008). 1. Introduction 7161 km east of Brasilia, in the reading room of were also the result of a search for a new archi- the Department of Architecture at the University tectural identity after the estalishment of a Na- 3 of Pretoria in South Africa, stands a scale model tionalist Government under D.F. Malan (1874- 4 (see Fig. 2) of the Meat Board Building designed 1959) in 1948 . by a German immigrant to the Union of South This architectural-historical article will provide a Africa, Hellmut Wilhelm Ernst Stauch (1910- glimpse into the influence of Brazilian late Mod- 1970). It was the first building to be built in this ern Movement architecture on that in the Union country that was influenced by the regional of South Africa (1910-1961) through a compara- modernism of Brazil, aptly suited to local climatic tive analysis of Oscar Niemeyer's (1907-2012) conditions and spatial and constructional effi- Ministry of Education and Health Building (1936- ciencies. 1945)5 in Rio de Janeiro and Hellmut Stauch's "The book Brazil Builds1 was to post-war Meat Board Building in Pretoria (1952) (see Fig. students in Pretoria what Vers une Architec- 1). Firstly mediations of the Modern Movement 2 ture had been to Martienssen's generation will be described to unpack the dissemination of in Johannesburg, and in the years to come its canon and various adaptations in the world, its influence left an enduring mark on the ar- chitecture of Pretoria. Nikolaus Pevsner later concluding with a South African mediation. Then called Johannesburg 'a little Brazil',' but the direct and indirect linkages with late Brazilian description may have suited Pretoria even Modern Movement architecture will be sketched. better" (SILVERMAN, 1999, p. 229). 3 The inheritances of post-war Pretoria buildings This was the start of the policies of Apartheid founded on the idea of separate development of race groups under white domination 4 1948 was also the first graduation year of the first group of 1 The Brazil Builds exhibition was launched in 1943, the architectural students at the University of Pretoria, a school, same year that the Department of Architecture was formed started in 1943 that developed a contextual design focus at the University of Pretoria. premised on appropriate climatic responses and spatial and 2 See section in this article called "Modern Movements in the technological efficiencies. Union of South Africa". 5 Also known as Gustavo Capanema Palace. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18830/issn.1679-0944.n18.2017.03 Dossiê Brasil-África do Sul| Paranoá 18 Finally, the adoption of a climatically suitable transitory one. The CIAM meeting of 1947 re- and spatially efficient architecture will be de- sulted in a reconsideration of its original ortho- scribed to highlight the development of a post dox position, arguing for an architecture that Second World War Pretoria architectural identi- would meet the material and emotional needs of ty. society (PRINSLOO, 2000, p. 96). The idealist phase of the Modern Movement was over and 2. Modern Movements as Ghirado (1996) and Curtis (1996) argue, The first Modern Movement was the most co- universal prototypes began to be misapplied herent (albeit dogmatic) approach to the press- while revolution was replaced with capitalism. ing issues of the time. At its core was the pursuit of the new and a reaction against the stagnant In Europe this tendency had already reared its use of tradition. It mediated, amongst other con- head in the 1930s, with the transmigration of cerns, between the modern and the classical, work of architects like Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). autocracy and democracy, and craft and indus- But the major shift occurred in work outside trialization. The movement expressed a pro- Europe, particularly in developing countries in grammatic and pastoral view of modernity South America and Africa. These regions were (HEYNEN, 1999, p. 11-14). Architects like Le exposed to Modern Movement tendencies Corbusier (1887-1965), Mies van der Rohe through the European education of their archi- (1886-1969) and Walter Gropius (1883-1969) tects, the relocation of architects, extended held common beliefs about the human condition trade, and the dissemination of publications that bordered on a social utopianism (JENCKS, such as those of the Museum of Modern Art6. 1985, p. 31). It was a period of idealism and International Style architecture was easily architects believed that a new social order could adopted by countries that saw it as a way of be established through the advances of technol- creating a new tradition that severed the con- ogy. In architectural terms this was exemplified nection with colonial powers, or even as a reac- by the possibilities inherent in new technologies tion against restrictive regional tendencies like reinforced concrete, along with Le Corbu- (CURTIS, 1996, p. 396). sier's 'five points for a new architecture' and The cosmopoliotan population of Brazil, mainly 'house as machine' metaphor. The heroic period from Italy, then Spain and Portugal (GERNEKE, of modern architecture had established itself 1998, p. 202) brought Modern Art to the country through canon (BARKER, 2012, p. 75). but even before the advent of the Vargas gov- The second period of the Modern Movement ernment in 1930 there were Brazilian experi- (BARKER, 2012, p. 76) is defined by Joedicke ments in modern architecture. From modest (1969, p. 16) as spanning a period of ten years beginnings the movement, happening to coin- from 1930 to 1939, that is, in Europe until the cide with a building boom, spread like brushfire Second World War began. He suggests that (GOODWIN, 1943a, p. 81 and 1943b p. 10). modern architecture had spread across Europe A direct relationship with France through Le in variations influenced by climate, topography Corbusier and his collaboration with Brazilian and tradition. The expressions of modernity architects, the overseas training of architects, were certainly still programmatic, but after the foreign study, travel and publications furthered CIAM conference of 1928 St. John Wilson Modern Movement influences. One of the first (2007) argued that another tradition of Modern Modern Movement inspired architects in Brazil architecture was formed, as an inner critique of was Lúcio Costa (1902-1988), who was born in pastoral Modernity. France, educated in England and Switzerland, The third period of the Modern Movement can finally qualifying at the National School of Fine be said to have developed after the Second Arts in Rio de Janeiro. He founded a partnership World War which was followed by a period of physical, social and economic reconstruction. 6 For example 'The International Style' by Russell and Hitch- Modernity shifted from a programmatic bias to a cock in 1932. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18830/issn.1679-0944.n18.2017.03 Dossiê Brasil-África do Sul| Paranoá 18 with a Ukrainian architect, Gregori Warchavchik clear of issues of style and aesthetics. (1896-1972), who was influenced by the Futur- Thereafter the limited influence of a transitory ists and Modernists he had studied in Odessa modernity on domestic architecture in South and Rome. Costa designed the 1939 New York Africa in the 1930s (CURTIS, 1996, p. 306) was World's Fair Brazilian pavilion in association with pioneered by Rex Distin Martienssen (1905- Oscar Niemeyer and Paul Lester Wiener (1895- 1942) who qualified from Wits in 1930. 1967). Here all of the elements that would guide Martienssen's direct contact with Le Corbusier a Brazilian third Modern Movement were already paved the way for the distillation of Modern present; pilotis, organic garden and grid-like Movement tenets mainly in the Transvaal7, after façade providing privacy for offices and service he had taken over the editorship of the SAAR in spaces. 1932. Together with a small band of like-minded It was in Brazil that the orthodoxy of Le Corbu- protagonists, Gordon McIntosh (1904-1983) and sier found a new life through the adaptation of Norman Hanson (1909-1991) (later referred to his principles by architects such as Lúcio Costa as the Transvaal Group) Martienssen forged an and his protégé Oscar Niemeyer (CHIPKIN, alliance that led to the publication of zero hour 1993, p. 230). Le Corbusier's visit in 1937 must on 1 April 1933 (GERNEKE, 1998, p.
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