Conservação da Arquitetura Moderna: plano de conservação e de reuso para o Instituto de Micologia da UFPE

The main purpose of this paper is to present the project developed by the students of the in situ module from the First Course on the Conservation of Modern Architecture in Latin America (MARC-AL) that took place in Recife/PE (Brazil) in November, 2009. The exercise required from the students was the establishment of a Conservation and Intervention Plan for the building designed in 1956 by Reginaldo Esteves to be used as the Institute of Mycology of the Department of Chemistry at UFPE. The project, supervised by Mario Russo (architect), was one of the first buildings constructed at UFPE campus and, together with the Antibiotics Building (designed by Mario Russo in 1953) and the garden between them, make up spatial composition has an important role in the original planning of the campus. The building, however, was never occupied by the Mycology Institute and, over time, has suffered several interventions that have changed its characteristics. The building currently houses UFPE’s Center for Hospitality (hotel management) and Tourism and it is under renovation. The Conservation Plan was designed following the methodology proposed by MARC-AL, a course that trained professionals for the conservation of modern architecture heritage. The case study presented a series of challenges to the group which identified the building’s problems and potentials. Problems that involved modifications to the original project, to technical and technological investigation of the architecture, change of use and typology, among others, were subject to group discussions. Thus, the Conservation and Intervention Plan for the Institute of Mycology presents itself as a contribution to the discourse of research of the values and characteristics of modern architecture, its architectural program, and cultural significance as well as physical degradation processes. The Plan also presents, with particular interest, an investigation about the potential and methodological design procedures on the conservation and intervention on modern buildings.