Ornamento sem delito: a plasticidade das superfícies de concreto armado na arquitetura brutalista curitibana

Ornament and no crime: the plasticity of reinforced concrete surfaces in the Brutalist architecture of Curitiba From 1950 to 1970, modern architecture developed in Curitiba with significant units constructed by the socalled Grupo do Paraná – teams of distinguished architects who won several national contests at the period. In this scenario, architectural Brutalism was implanted in the capital of Paraná State to consolidate a modernity printed in the external surfaces of its buildings. Most of those structures use reinforced concrete, moulded with traditional timber formwork which reveals its handicraft manufacture and impresses a rustic texture to such sophisticaded forms. However, this treatment reaches a higher level when some of the buildings have added to the plain surfaces artistic-ornamental compositions elaborated in bas-relives of abstract thematic. Such aesthetic approaches this architecture to important artistic movements as “neo-Concretism” thus strengthening the desired link art-architecture as well as retaking some formal premises experienced during the Art Deco movement. A more direct relation is established between this type of ornamentation and the production of Poty Lazarotto, a notorious artist from Curitiba who created a series of concrete-based murals. From this moment on, this unusual repertoire originates buildings with a strong character, thus generating a new typology that rescues the tradition of the ornament in the surface of the architectural box.