Nine of the architect's unbuilt projects, which have never been exhibited in Brazil and were only previously shown at the Venice Biennale in 2000, are featured in the exhibition, which opens in his honor a month and a half before his 90th birthday. In total, the show brings together 11 of his most radical and experimental works, which share common themes of water, nature, landscape, and territory beyond the architectural scale.
An elevated reservoir built in Urânia, a small town in the countryside of São Paulo, revives the idea of water towers. A large river port on the Tietê River, between the municipalities of Lins and Novo Horizonte, connects the existing road and rail networks along the river. The Santos Municipal Aquarium becomes a small urban lake, allowing the environment to have no walls or fences. These are some of the projects envisioned by Paulo Mendes da Rocha throughout his life but never built. They can be seen from September 12 to November 4 in the 41st exhibition of the Ocupação series, created by Itaú Cultural to recover memories and records from the archives of essential figures in Brazilian art and culture.
Curated by the Itaú Cultural team and Guilherme Wisnik, with curatorial assistance from Marina Frúgoli and consulting by Ana Helena Curti, Ocupação Paulo Mendes da Rocha spans the entire first floor of the institute, celebrating the 90th birthday of the architect and urban planner, who turns 90 on October 25. Featuring over 100 items, the exhibition showcases references from his career, such as old family, project, and travel photos, self-portraits, architectural drawings, sketches, models, and other materials selected from his personal archive.
The focus, however, is on presenting details of 11 of his projects, most of which were unbuilt. These include buildings, structures, and other urban-scale proposals that share water as a common element—a natural feature that has inspired the architect since childhood. Although he moved to São Paulo as a child, he was born in the port city of Vitória (ES) and grew up following the work of his father, Paulo de Menezes Mendes da Rocha (1887-1967), an engineer dedicated to water and naval resources.
Having graduated in architecture and urbanism from FAU Mackenzie in 1954, he belonged to the generation of modernist architects led by João Batista Vilanova Artigas (1915-1985), to whom Itaú Cultural also dedicated an Ocupação exhibition in 2015. Holding a prominent position in contemporary Brazilian architecture, Paulo Mendes da Rocha designed iconic works such as the Brazilian Sculpture Museum, the portico at Praça do Patriarca, the renovation of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, and, more recently, Sesc 24 de Maio in downtown São Paulo.
Abroad, he designed the Brazil Pavilion in Osaka in 1970 and the National Coach Museum in Portugal. In 2006, he won the Pritzker Prize, often described as the Nobel Prize of architecture. In 2016, he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale and received the Praemium Imperiale of Japan, one of the world's most prestigious awards, which is presented in Tokyo by Prince Hitachi.
The Exhibition and Water
Two-meter-long pencil sketches—such as the Vitória Art Museum, designed by Mendes da Rocha in honor of Frans Krajcberg (1921-2017) to house the Natura Krajcberg Foundation—models (including an original of Cais das Artes made by the architect himself), and enlarged plans displayed on the walls and large tables in the center of the space make up the exhibition. The exhibition design is by Martin Corullon of Metro Arquitetos Associados.
Of the 11 projects on display, only Sesc 24 de Maio was completed, opening last year. Meanwhile, Cais das Artes is currently under construction in Vitória (ES). He designed this project in 2006 as an architectural complex comprising a museum and a theater that highlights the surrounding landscape and history—built on a reclaimed esplanade along the canal separating the capital of Espírito Santo from the municipality of Vila Velha. The two buildings are elevated on pillars, and circulation between the museum's exhibition spaces occurs via outdoor ramps, offering views of the sea, passing ships, and the mountains of the neighboring city. A large open plaza surrounds the two structures, accommodating performing arts and outdoor exhibitions.
The other nine works were never built. In addition to the Urânia Elevated Reservoir (1968), Tietê City (1980), the Santos Municipal Aquarium (1991), and the Vitória Art Museum (from the same year), the exhibition features Parque da Grota, designed in 1974 for the Bela Vista neighborhood in central São Paulo. A grota is a ravine or gully caused by rainwater or river flooding on hillsides. In that area, the ravine around the Saracura Stream is occupied by run-down, low-density buildings. The project aims to tap into the unique potential of this rugged terrain by planting trees on the slopes and building a residential neighborhood with parks, schools, local shops, and hotels. For the buildings, the design features a typical 15-story circular tower, with some floors left open for recreation.
Another project for São Paulo is the 2001 Proposal for Praça da República, which envisions a large public swimming pool on-site. This "urban beach" is elevated on pillars, forming a 100-meter-wide structure. Beneath it, at ground level, space is reserved for machinery, a set of ramps leading to the top, and facilities such as a cafeteria and changing rooms, as well as a ballroom for community festivals.
Vitória Bay, a 1993 project, establishes a new logic for the occupation of that region. One of its proposals concerns the mangrove area at the far end of the canal. Preserved, this space could host marine farms to study and support this fertile microclimate. Over time, a seawall and landfill were built at the entrance to the old city, creating an esplanade that has gradually been designated for a disorganized variety of institutional uses. To address this situation, ingenious spatial solutions were envisioned, such as crystalline towers built over the sea.
Montevideo Bay in Uruguay was also a subject of interest for Mendes da Rocha in 1998, as the city's transport networks revolve around the bay, treating it as an obstacle to overcome. His project inverts this situation, directing the city toward the bay in a concentric manner, integrating this water surface into daily life. Consequently, the bay is transformed into a water plaza, and the space can be crossed using a fleet of boats—a light, mass transit system that would alleviate car traffic on city roads. This offers a somewhat "Venetian" vision of the relationship between humans and nature, and of life within the urban environment.
In 1988, the architect designed a proposal for an international competition to reinvent what was once the largest library of antiquity, the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Seeking to embrace the beautiful landscape of the Peninsula of the Kings, his layout placed only the reception and administration of the library on the proposed site, constructing the main facilities as cubic and cylindrical towers. A tunnel runs beneath the waterfront avenue, connecting the towers to a spacious exhibition hall located in the basement of the entrance portico on the original plot of land.
More from the Exhibition
The curators of Ocupação Paulo Mendes da Rocha also chose to present projects and images that dialogue with his thinking. Among these is a 1967 preliminary design by his father to connect the La Plata and Amazon basins via the Alegre-Aguapeí diversion canal. It also includes 1922 photographs by Augusto Malta and Sebastião Lacerda documenting the construction of Flamengo Landfill and the hydraulic dismantling of the Castelo and Santo Antônio hills, along with a map of Venice, one of his inspirations.
Four videos produced by the Itaú Cultural team featuring the architect discussing his work—all with audio description—accompany the presentation of the projects. Another video highlights his most prominent and grandest completed works, such as the Pinacoteca, Sesc, the National Coach Museum, Clube Paulistano, the Osaka pavilion, and the Butantã House, which he designed and built when starting his family, and where one of his children now lives.
To explore a deeper and more personal side of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, a sixth video features an interview conducted by Luis Ludmer in partnership with the Museu da Pessoa. Biographical in nature, he speaks from the times of his grandparents up to his winning the Golden Lion in Venice—the latter captured by his daughter, Joana Mendes da Rocha, for the documentary Tudo é projeto (It's All a Project), which she co-directed with Patricia Rubano.
In Synergy
A publication produced by Itaú Cultural's editorial team and a microsite on the institute's portal are additional features of Ocupação Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The book contains an article by journalist Marcella Chartier about the architect and a photographic essay by Tuca Vieira documenting two of his works: Poupatempo Itaquera and Sesc 24 de Maio. The photos are accompanied by accounts from users of these spaces, presenting them through the eyes of those who experience them. Meanwhile, the website will host elements of the physical exhibition alongside exclusive content, including video interviews with collaborators and close associates, such as his son, architect Pedro Mendes da Rocha; Arte3 director Ana Helena Curti; theater director Bia Lessa; visual artist Carmela Gross; and Guilherme Wisnik.
In addition, a diverse program of events has been planned for the duration of the exhibition. On opening day, at 6:30 PM, the documentary Tudo é projeto will be screened, followed by a talk by Joana about the film and her experience filming her father. Curator Guilherme Wisnik will then present the exhibition. On September 19 and November 1, paper model-making workshops will be led by Naná Mendes da Rocha, also the architect's daughter, and Guilherme Tanaka. On October 6 and 27, Luciana Itikawa and Marta Moreira will lead registered participants on city tours departing from Itaú Cultural to visit and explore some of the featured architect's works.
INFO
Ocupação Paulo Mendes da Rocha
Dates: September 13 to November 4
Tuesday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM (open until 8:30 PM)
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Rating: All ages
Free admission
Screening of the documentary Tudo É Projeto and Q&A
September 12 at 6:30 PM
Approximate duration: 90 minutes
Sala Itaú Cultural (ground floor) – 224 seats
Rating: All ages
Free admission
This article was written by Victor Delaqua. The translation is powered by AI.
