About the Book: Sergio Rodrigues em Brasília (1956-1981) revisits key moments in Sergio’s consolidation as one of Brazil’s leading designers. The generation of architects to which he belonged accepted the challenge of building a new capital for the country, following a plan distilled from the ethos of Brazilian modernism and expressed through the realization of Lucio Costa’s urban planning concepts and Oscar Niemeyer’s palaces. For architects like Sergio Rodrigues, the challenge of building a new country was multifaceted. Supported by the winds of hope for more prosperous, generous, and happy times, it ranged from the opportunity to be inventive—creating architectural solutions using novel prefabricated structures to provide mass social housing in Brazil—to taking on Niemeyer’s challenge of furnishing Brazilian modern architecture. This generation worked in Brasília and dreamed of a modernization of the country deeply committed to building a higher standard of living right here. Edited by professor Marcelo Mari, the book features a series of articles written by him and other specialists, covering themes ranging from the sale of furniture for the Catetinho—the first seat of government, improvised at the new capital’s construction site—and the experience of designing sheds and furniture for the newly created UnB, to projects for government palaces, the Itamaraty, the National Theater, and the Cine Brasília.
About the authors:
Marcelo Mari is an associate professor in the Theory, Criticism, and Art History program at UnB and coordinator of the research project Mobiliário Moderno em Brasília (Modern Furniture in Brasília), supported by FAP-DF. His work emphasizes history, art criticism, and Brazilian philosophy, with a focus on modern art, aesthetics, and the intersection of art and society.
Beatriz Leivas is a Brasília native, holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism, and is an undergraduate student in Theory, Criticism, and Art History at UnB. She has been part of the Mobiliário Moderno em Brasília research project since 2022.
Flávio Yutaka Oshiro holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from FAUUSP and is an undergraduate student in Theory, Criticism, and Art History at UnB. He has been part of the Mobiliário Moderno em Brasília research project since 2022.
Freddy Van Camp is a designer and head of VanCampDesign since 1980, based in Rio de Janeiro and Petrópolis. He served as a professor, director, and regional coordinator at Esdi-Uerj, where he also earned his degree. He completed postgraduate studies in Los Angeles, USA, and Braunschweig, Germany.
Karen Akemi Matsuda is a historian who graduated from FFLCH-USP. She earned her master’s degree from FAUUSP in 2020 with a dissertation on the Itamaraty Palace and is currently a doctoral candidate at the same institution, researching Os interiores dos palácios de Brasília: da concepção à execução (1956-1970) (The Interiors of Brasília’s Palaces: From Conception to Execution, 1956-1970), funded by Fapesp.
Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos is a philosopher, full professor of Design at FAUUSP, and a Research Productivity fellow at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
Mina Warchavchik Hugerth graduated as an architect from Escola da Cidade and holds master’s degrees from FAUUSP and the Parsons School of Design. She has written and edited numerous publications on 20th-century material culture, with a particular focus on Brazilian furniture.
Rogério Camara is an associate professor in the Department of Design at UnB, holding a master’s degree and a doctorate in Communication from UFRJ. His research explores the relationship between textuality and the city, with an emphasis on visual poetics. He is the author of the book Grafo-sintaxe concreta: o projeto Noigandres, among others.
Roseli Sartori holds a master’s degree in Italian Language and Literature from USP. She served as director of the José Mindlin Library in Milan and deputy director of the Brazil-Italy Institute in Milan. She is currently dedicated to the artistic and historical heritage of the Pamphilj Palace, the seat of the Brazilian Embassy in Rome.
Copyediting: Acácia Montagnolli
