277. Sergio Vladimir Bernardes /// Lota Macedo Soares House /// Samambaia, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil /// 1953

OfHouses guest curated by CI-AA:
“Amid the division between the Rio and São Paulo “schools”, Sergio Bernardes developed his own architectural style apart from the main Brazilian movements at the time. The design for the Lota House was one of his early projects and the first steel structure house in Brazil. It carefully combines a clear influence from mid-century American architects, such as Richard Neutra and Charles & Ray Eames, with a catalog of vernacular materials. Bernardes believed that the architectural solutions from the Californian Case Study Houses could be easily adapted to the climate in Rio, and its aesthetic would fit well with the aspirations of an emerging and cosmopolitan middle class in Brazil. However, he needed to engage with local craftsmanship in order to achieve the desired structural slenderness, which was not possible due to the lack of standard industrial structures in Brazil at that time. The research and experimentation present in this project prompts us to regard it as a lost, tropical Case Study House.”
(Photos: © Leonardo Finotti. Source: Leonardo Finotti, “Sergio Bernardes:  House Lota Macedo Soares, A Photography Essay” (San Francisco: Blurb, 2014), pp 1-100.)