2G N.45 Paulo Mendes Da Rocha. Recent Work

Paulo Mendes da Rocha (Vitória do Espírito Santo, 1928) received the Pritzker Prize in 2006. Known internationally as a result of the construction of his Museu Brasileiro da Escultura (MuBE) in São Paulo, his work embraces many different scales, from magnificent single-family houses, by way of major reforms to important buildings and plans for public space, to enormous urbanistic projects. This issue of 2G displays the Brazilian architect's most recent works (some of them hitherto unpublished), all of them built in collaboration with a series of architecture studios, including the Pinacoteca do Estado, the Praça do Patriarca and the FIESP Cultural Centre, all in São Paulo, a chapel in Recife, and urban schemes for Montevideo Bay, Vigo University campus and the port area in Cagliari. Guilherme Wisnik's 'Architecture of the territory' provides us with a number of clues to understanding Mendes da Rocha's career in the context of Brazil, while a choral interview with the architect and his colleagues enables us to understand the process of collaboration and the development of the projects.