Three Projects for Council Houses by Lina Bo Bardi: from Virtual Reconstruction to Graphical Analysis

Abstract

The paper deals with the studies conducted in 1951 in Brazil by Lina Bo Bardi on the issue of council houses. The three examples were never realised but do help to describe the intention of the architect to promote a “rational” way of living, from a small house to an urban complex. The first project concerns a small house with a close relationship between architecture and nature. The second project concerns three housing units that embody the idea of the housing cell as a constituent piece of a community. The housing typologies to which the architect has referred are: the indigenous maloca, a community house used by the Amazon natives; the Italian peasant house with its living room; and the domkommuna (communal house), a settlement model realizsd in the Soviet Union between 1925 and 1932, comprising a modular cell designed for a full Community lifestyle. The third project concerns an urban complex which is based on a typology of inexpensive houses on pilotis designed inside regular lots. Through a critical reading of the architect’s sketches it was possible to virtually reconstruct the projects of the houses. Graphical analysis enabled understanding of the geometric compositions and highlighted the relations between the parties.