Lecture “The Construction History of Modern Rio de Janeiro (1921–1937)”
On Monday, 21 September, at 10:00, the lecture “The Construction History of Modern Rio de Janeiro (1921–1937)”, will take place at CVTT – Iscte, Building 4, Room A104, in Lisbon.
The lecture will present research conducted by Professor Niuxa Drago and her team at the Laboratory of Narratives in Architecture (LANA), part of PROARQ at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
The research focuses particularly on data concerning the introduction of reinforced concrete in building construction in central Rio de Janeiro, examining technical and urban regulations, the origins of materials, and the actors involved - designers, contractors and construction workers - while bringing together the study of technological, typological and landscape transformations.
The case studies presented will include the construction of the pavilions for the International Exhibition of the Centenary of Brazilian Independence (1921–1923); the construction of the Regina Building (1932–1935), in Cinelândia, based on its legal records held in the Rio de Janeiro city archives; and the construction of the concrete structure of the Ministry of Education and Health Building (1937), drawing on a collection of construction-site photographs held by the Research and Documentation Centre at FAU-UFRJ.
The presentation will also address construction workers in the 1920s through contemporary newspaper reports, as well as the relationship between major concrete construction projects and the growth of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas.
NIUXA DIAS DRAGO holds a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from FAU/UFRJ (2000) and a Master’s and PhD in Performing Arts from UNIRIO (2005–2012), where she completed the dissertation A cidade-personagem na obra de Nelson Rodrigues and the doctoral thesis A Cenografia de Santa Rosa – espaço e modernidade, published by Riobooks in 2014.
The lecture is organised in the context of DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte’s ArchLabour Project.