A Memória Moderna e a casa popular na Contemporaneidade: possibilidades, permanências e devires

Among the various expressions of popular architecture in the North-East of Brazil, attention should be drawn to the semi-residential houses (casas de meia morada )that are characterised by a façade consisting of a door, window and narrow frontage.In Alagoas, as in several other States in the country, there are clear signs of attempts being made to modernise this architecture in the mid 1950s. This was the case in Quebrangulo and Palmeira dos Índios, small towns in a harsh barren region of Alagoas which have been selected as benchmarks for this study. Against the background of the 1950s, some features of modernist architecture were adapted by the dwellers of these houses. The fixture to the site The fact that the houses were wedged in a fixed site only allowed changes to be made to the façades where the addition of new features, such as mouldings and ledges, could only be carried out to strengthen its geometrical shape, while in the interior there were alterations with regard to coating and finishing measures which endowed them with a modern ambience. The dwellers and builders thus were involved in a process of appropriation, redesigning and transformation of the modern. The history of modernism is also the history of people who made alterations to their houses in a desire for modernity under the influence of erudite architecture or fashion. In this respect, with the passing of years and the aging of the occupants, these houses began to be increasingly affected by experiences that originate from more remote times: they are embellished with an array of decorative and religious objects. This raises the issue of how to reflect on what is inhabited space, modernity and its relations with decorative elements. Thus the aim of this article is to gain access to this popular modern architecture through empirical observation and by means of the narrative accounts of their dwellers and builders. However, when dealing with modern architecture from the standpoint of the general public, different kinds of impacts put modernity in the limelight, whether through the picturesque, though a strong reaction against the action of time or from the accumulation of human experiences.