Two Moments of School Architecture in Sao Paulo: Ramos de Azevedo and his Republican Pioneering Schools/Hélio Duarte and the "Educational Agreement" (1879-1911)

• Localización: Paedagogica Historica: International journal of the history of education, ISSN 0030-9230, Vol. 41, Nº. 1-2, 2005, págs. 215-242
• Idioma: varios idiomas
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• Resumen

  • There are two peculiar moments in the history of the ¿struggle for national education', which, specifically in the city of São Paulo, capital of the State of São Paulo, one of the major and richest cities in Brazil, produced very interesting results in school architecture. The first moment happened in the period called the ¿First Republic' (1889¿1930), when the country abandoned the ¿Imperial' era. The old and poor city had been practically rebuilt by initiative of the republican government, assuming a European appearance. In this context, the public education service became a motive of the paulistanos (the citizens of São Paulo), which is well illustrated by the set of public school buildings erected at that time. There was a great name related to the reshaping of the city and the construction of public schools: Francisco de Paula Ramos de Azevedo (1851¿1928), architect and head of Ramos de Azevedo Technical Office, where most of the large-scale public projects of the city were designed at that time. Among the huge amount of projects he carried on in his prestigious professional career, there were at least seven school buildings that illustrate his capacity to create a symbolic architectonical image for public education, and where, at the same time, he could employ his personal concepts regarding the theme. Three of them were built in the period ranging from 1890 to 1898, amazing the citizens and launching new paradigms for school architecture in São Paulo at that time. The second peculiar moment occurs during a period of strong industrialization in Brazil, which ranges from 1930 to approximately 1964. São Paulo greatly extended its limits, with the creation of numerous new neighborhoods. In terms of school architecture in the city, the interval between 1949 and 1954 has special meaning. It was during these years that the ¿Educational Agreement' was in force under the leadership of the Architect Hélio Duarte (1906¿1989). This ¿Agreement', celebrated between the state government and the municipality of São Paulo, allowed the construction of dozens of schools in the city, in an attempt to meet the demands of a growing population in a growing city. Behind each school project conceived within the context of this program there was the vision of Duarte, an idealistic professional who had a close connection with important names in Brazilian education of that period, especially Anísio Teixeira. Duarte had a consistent educational background and a commitment to the ideals of Modern Architecture, a conjunction that resulted in schools that made a very strong architectonic mark and had a precisely delineated functional program distributed in their spaces.