E1: Industrialization in Modern Brazilian Architecture, 1950

Abstract

The construction of the E-1 building occurred between 1954 and 1957 in a scenario marked by the growing Brazilian industrialization. Celebrated by national critics as an example of flexible architecture and prefabrication, the building plastically expressed the spirit of the new Engineering School that was established there. Aiming at preserving it as an architectural heritage, we deepened the knowledge about the historical construction process of the building. Later, the Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) was adopted for reconstruction. To accomplish this task, a narrative was developed, which started from the Campus constitution of the University of São Paulo (USP), in the city of São Carlos, and the Engineering School implementation. This narrative includes the definition of the pilot project for the area and the E-1 construction. It addresses several characters that we seek to identify and relate to the construction industrialization history in Brazil. The building history and the modeling of the construction phases allowed us to verify initial hypotheses regarding the project’s contribution in the construction industrialization context as well as the quality and integrity that the building preserves to this day. The floor plans flexibility, the tree structure, and the strategy for the building system shafts are aspects of technical competence, expressed in architectural, structural, and installation designs. It is the most significant building on the Campus. However, it remains not legally protected, as well as a large and varied collection of modern buildings spread across the Brazilian territory, whose cultural value is at ties unknown.