BRANRIOX90ESIACL426P1.pdf

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I believe you have a great deal of work outside Brazil: in France,
Italy, Portugal, Lebanon, Israel, and now at Oxford University.
Could you explain these projects?
I have worked a good deal abroad. That has been comforting
in a sense, and has provided answers to a lot of questions. But
I prefer to talk about something eJse. It would be strange to
explain these projects in detail and in the same breath to insist
that architecture has no importance.
Why do you say that?
Simply because, although architecture is my profession and I
have devoted my life to it, I try not to forget that there exist
more pressing problems for human existence. These require
the attention of each of us and to ignore tham as if ali were
for the best in the best of ali possible worlds would constitute
an unjustifiable act of self-alienation. I'm not so innocent
that I believe one's work will enter necessarily into history.
Rather I consider myself a realist facing up to the illusive and
precarious nature of existence in the face of the obliterating
effects of time.
Are you criticai then of those who consecrate themselves entirely
to their work in a spirit of self-renunciation and ideahsm?
First of ali, I am not criticai of anyone. I know that today any
activity requires more than ever both perseverance and idealism.
Yet even the extreme energy that one person, such as Gide, for
cxample, consecrated to activitics of a pcrsonal or professional
nature can, I believe still spare itself for the more essential
business of association with the word in which we live.
That means that you attach more importance to the man that
to the artist?
Obviously-Look at the work of Gorky. Read, for exemple,
A/y Universities and you will feel great respect for the man.
Do you find such an attitude indispensable?
No, not indispensable. Often what the artist lacks is just this
concern that would furnish him with other perspectives and give
another dimension to his work while at the same time increasing
his personal satisfaction.
When did you begin to be interested in social problems?
I think I must have been born with a natural aversion to the
middle classes and to middle-class privileges.
Do you accept those who don't think as you do?
I am in favour of complete freedom of thought, speech, and
press. I have had friends of ali political tendencies, and politics
have never influenced our relations.
Do you believe that intellectuals and artists should parlicipatc in
political problems?
AH of us participate, even silence indicates acceptance. The
worst thing is that those who say nothing make themselves
miserable by looking for an excuse in determinism.
Do you entertain religious feelings? Are you Roman Catholic
like the majority of Brazilians?
1 am not Catholic, but 1 should like to believe in something.
We are faced with the question of why the world was created
in the first place, life being so hostile yet science so complex
that nonetheless to destroy it ali would be absurd.
How do you interpret the spirit of friendship?
I would like to discuss another sort of friendship, the comradeship
that unites us ali during the short adventure of this life
so full of surprises. I don't mean simply common defence
against the shadows and mysteries that inspire fear in ali of us,
but rather something greater —almost cosmic— that permits
comprehension, detachment, and solidarity.
What are your strongest memories of childhood and adolescence?
Like the Brazilian author A. Amoroso Lima, I remember the
house where I was born in the Laranjeiras district. Later the
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street where this house stands was named after my grandfather,
who was minister of the Supreme Court: Antônio Augusto
Ribeiro de Almeida. The gradient of this street is so steep that
now I wonder how I could have run down it at full speed
chasing a football. The house itself with its balanced fenestration
and a verandah that went right round to the far end of the
garden, and over the door the initials of our family ....
I remember as well my grandmother, with a bunch of keys at
her waist closing doors and windows, or, on Sunday, with great
seriousness unlocking the oratory off the parlour, for it was
there that we celebrated mass in view of ali the neighbours. I
remember my grandparents, parents, brothers, sister, uncles,
aunts, and my cousin Milota, who was a second mother to me.
Ah, what "saudade"!
Later, it was Dona Herminia Lira da Silva's kindergarten, my
school, and, at the age of fifteen, the Fluminense Futebol Clube
and the Regata Club at Guanabara, the Café Lamas and the
Lapa district, the site of my favourite walks. Finally, the
National Fine Arts Academy where I completed my studies in
architecture.
You're considered to be Brazil's greatest architect and your fame
and reputation are worldwide? You evidently have an enormous
quantity of work. Does this mean that you are a rich man?
This is a question that has never much interested me. Let
me cite a few examples to prove it. My first commission was a
nursery in the Lagoa district of Rio. I asked nothing for doing
it and when the brise-soleils weien't right, I paid for new ones
out of my own pocket.
In my dealings with Novacap for the construction of Brasília, I
systematioally refused any commission, relying solely on my
salary as a civil servant, even for the construction of the Palace.
I might add that had I wished to accept, the commission offered
was a regular percentage established by the Brazilian Institute of
Architects. Worried by this refusal and by my financial condition,
Juscelino Kubitschek asked me in addition to prepare
projects for the Bank of Brazil and the National Bank for
Economic Development, these being important commissions to
be paid at the official rate. Again I refused and asked that
these be given to two colleagues: Ari Garcia Rosa, the winner
of the Bank of Brazil competition held at Rio, and Alcides da
Rocha Miranda who was interested in the Bank for Development
project.
And that's not ali. For a long time after leaving my position
with the Municipal Corporation of Brasília, I continued to
collaborate with the federal authorities whenever called upon.
That was how I carne to determine the basic design for the
stadium, the Parliament lowerhouse annex, the Supreme Court
annex, the Planalto Palace annex, the Armed Forces Headquarters
building, the Military Aoademy, the Terrestial Museum, the
railway station, and other buildings. My only concern during
that period was to conserve the architectural unity of the capital.
Afterwards, I was called upon to design a great many buildings
elsewhere but if you question my closest friends they'll tell you
that I spend or give away everything that I earn. Today, just
as before, I must continue working. I think I should be
ashamed to be rich.
Poverty is attractive to you then?
No, it's not that. But I think that in spite of suffering, there is
a great deal of grandeur that if we were rich we wouldn't
possess. We need to achieve the condition of society exhorted by
Theillard de Chardin; then "being" and "knowing" will be more
important than simply "having".
How do you view life? Are you pessimistic?
Sartre, in his enduring pessimism, states that ali existence is
defeat. This leads nowhere, yet it is difficult to contradict
his maxim. What is important is to make life more human and
more just. Man must learn to readjust to the biological scale
of the universe without bitterness or revolt and to take pride
in his surroundings. He needs to be prepared to discover a
little of himself in the rivers and oceans, clouds and mountains;
for it is to the earth that he must one day return.
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