MODERN HERITAGE IN DANGER São Paulo, Brazil OPEN LETTER on the Ibirapuera Gymnasium and the Constâncio Vaz Guimarães Sports Complex As faculty professors and researchers of the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo, we wish to express our deepest concern over the future of Ibirapuera Gymnasium and the Constâncio Vaz Guimarães Sports Complex in light of the State Government’s plan to turn over the area to private developers. As proposed, the project poses a serious threat to the physical integrity and operation of a sports facility that, in addition to being widely used for the development of athletes in Brazil, is an integral part of the history of the City of São Paulo and a fundamental achievement in the history of Brazilian architecture. It also has significant use and affective value for the sports community, which has used it extensively since the 1950s. There are many reasons to preserve the Constâncio Vaz Guimarães Sports Complex, where the Ibirapuera Gymnasium is located. The latter should be protected for its stylistic and constructive features, but also for its importance in modern Brazilian architecture and in the modernization of sports and culture in the City of São Paulo in the mid-1900s. That means that the Gymnasium is key to understanding leisure and recreational architecture in Brazil, as well as to understanding the transformations of spectacle and sports activity in this ever-expanding metropolis. In fact, the Gymnasium represents the government’s efforts to create high-quality public spaces that were open to the general public. Its architect, Ícaro de Castro Mello – a South American record holder in the high jump and the pole vault, and a member of the Brazilian track and field team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, is renowned for his design of several iconic pieces of Brazilian architecture, which were built when he worked for the Department of Physical Education and Sports (D.E.F.E.) of the state government and in his private practice, such as the Indoor Pool of the Baby Barioni Sports Complex, in São Paulo; the Paulo Sarasate Gymnasium, in Fortaleza; the Geraldo Magalhães Gymnasium, in Recife; the sports facilities of Sesc Itaquera and Bertioga, and hundreds of other buildings. In addition to representing the crossover between his careers as an athlete and an architect, which ensured the expertise and quality of his projects, Castro Mello’s works speak to the social value placed on sports and leisure activities and, consequently, to the government’s concerted efforts to promote the common good. His work was recognized not only by the architecture community but also by City Hall, which named the square in front of the Constâncio Vaz Guimarães Sports Complex after him. Therefore, the construction of the Gymnasium has to be understood as part of a larger process of construction of sports and leisure facilities in the City and State of São Paulo, which started at least in the mid-1930s, when ground was broken on the Pacaembu Stadium, the São Paulo School of Physical Education and the State Department of Physical Education and Sports (DEESP) were created, and the first editions of the Open Games of the Interior (of the State of São Paulo) were held. The Gymnasium is part of a public effort by the state government to increase sports activity in several cities. Other examples include gymnasiums built in Sorocaba (1950) and Ribeirão Preto (1951), which were also designed by Castro Mello under the DEESP. Docomomo Brasil - Av. Brasil, 4365, sala 307 - CDHS - Manguinhos - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil - CEP 21040 900 Tel.: (+55 21) 3865-2244 • www.docomomo.org.br • [email protected] In the early 1950s, São Paulo was a major player on the international sports scene. The size of its sports industry, its dense network of clubs and federations, the development of sports architecture in the city and its prominent place in the Brazilian sports map made São Paulo an attractive destination for hosting large sporting events. Besides, thousands of people were engaged in sporting events every weekend, either as spectators of professional soccer games or by participating as amateur athletes or attending track and field meetings, martial arts fights, aquatics competitions and cycling races held across the city. This favorable context led to the decision to use sporting events as part of the celebrations for the city’s 400th anniversary. Popular, well-organized and serving the public and private interests, sports were a social field in which the City of São Paulo could also project its exceptionality. The movement was also influenced by a sense of Pan-Americanism in sports – the first Pan-American Games were held in Buenos Aires in 1951 – and other international competitions around the continent, but also by the need to build more sports facilities, as identified by people within the São Paulo sports community. The Pacaembu complex was already seen as outdated, and the city needed a heated Olympic swimming pool – the Água Branca Pool, inside the Baby Barioni Sports Complex, was opened at the same time as the Ibirapuera Gymnasium was being built – and an indoor stadium for sporting events, music concerts, cultural activities and political rallies, along the lines of Luna Park in Buenos Aires or Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this sense, the construction of the Ibirapuera Gymnasium sought to fulfil a social function within the city’s social and cultural fabric. Due to various financial reasons and the creation of the 4th Centennial Committee, the Gymnasium was not delivered in time for the 1954 World Basketball Championship, an event that was supposed to be part of that year’s celebrations in São Paulo. The building opened in 1957 and quickly became a top venue for sporting and cultural events in São Paulo and all of Brazil. The velodrome became quickly outdated as the Union Cycliste Internationale implemented a series of new rules, and was renovated by Castro Mello, who transformed it into a Track and Field Stadium that opened in 1965. Three years later, the sports complex received the addition of the Aquatics Center, designed by the architect Nestor Lindenberg, which allowed for the growth of competitive swimming in the state and was used by thousands of amateur swimmers over the following decades. It is also important to understand the Gymnasium as part of the tensions, disruptions and continuities that mark the history of the development of Ibirapuera Park. This process started in the mid-1920s with the idea of a metropolitan park where different social classes would have access to a place of leisure and contact with nature, as a counterpoint to São Paulo’s growth and increased urban density. The Gymnasium and Velodrome at first, and then the Aquatics Center, were part of that spirit. A defense of the Ibirapuera Gymnasium and the Sports Complex is also a defense of the right to leisure, an idea at the core of the debate on what the 4th Centennial celebrations should be. Ibirapuera was not only about the arts and industry, it was also a place for sports, leisure and shows. Ibirapuera is the marquise and its pavilions, as well as the Gymnasium and the Velodrome. If we detach the sports complex from the history of the park, we will be erasing one of the main narratives used to justified the construction of one of the city’s main public spaces. The contemporary vitality of the sports complex can be seen in the transformations and adaptations that have been progressively made in order to adapt it to the evolving sports landscape. The changes are proof of the resilience of the Sports Complex in the city. The intense use of the spaces that witnessed the development of many accomplished Brazilian athletes such as Maurren Maggi, Tiago Camilo, Felipe Kitadai, Rafael Silva and many others, conveys the importance of the complex for Brazilian sports. We further wish to express our agreement with the Technical Report issued by the Historical Heritage Preservation Unit (UPPH) of the State Department of Culture, which states that the complex is an important reference to the memory, action and identity of São Paulo, and with article 216 of the Constitution of Brazil, which defines what constitutes cultural heritage in Brazil. It is also a key Docomomo Brasil - Av. Brasil, 4365, sala 307 - CDHS - Manguinhos - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil - CEP 21040 900 Tel.: (+55 21) 3865-2244 • www.docomomo.org.br • [email protected] historical landmark of modern Brazilian/ São Paulo architecture in the field of sports facilities as an ensemble, although the same applies to each of its parts. Individually, the buildings belonging to the Sports Complex, to the Gymnasium, to the Track and Field Stadium and the Aquatics Center are emblematic examples of São Paulo’s modern architecture that must be preserved for future generations. The current proposal for privatizing the Complex will seriously and irreversibly change its materiality. It ignores the arrangement of open spaces, the excellence and quality of its architecture, its role in the memory and urban landscape of São Paulo. If this project were to take place, it would destroy part of the city’s history and memory, as well as compromise its future development. Finally, preserving this vital part of São Paulo’s and Brazilian heritage would be a significant step in addressing recent concerns over environmental preservation and sustainability. In support of this letter Agnaldo Aricê Caldas Farias Gil Barros Marly Namur Alessandra Prata Giselle Beiguelman Marta Vieira Bogéa Ana Barone Gustavo Surcio Mônica Junqueira Ana Claudia Scaglione Veiga Castro Hugo Massaki Segawa Nabil Bonduki Ana Lúcia Duarte Lanna Ivo Renato Giroto Nilce Cristina Aravecchia Botas Andreina Nigriello Joana Mello de Carvalho e Silva Nestor Goulart Reis Filho Antônio Carlos Barossi João Sette Whitaker Ferreira Paula Santoro Antônio Carlos Sant’Anna Jr.