Only Christo Might Save S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Architecture<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to being the ugliest, S\u00e3o Paulo takes the cake as the most fun city I know. Its major joke is its architecture. An architecture that no longer thrills, yet, incredibly enough, still communicates: it is so ridiculous it makes one laugh. Evidently, it is not the clever smile, yet the easy laughter. Starting from its various architectural styles: utopist, vernacular, post-modernist, bureaucratic, erotic, messianic, fundamentalist, cybernetic, neo-fascist, metaphysical, etc., architecture, in S\u00e3o Paulo , closely resembles Epcot Center\u2019s \u2013 in the bad sense, that is.
Here, there are also buildings representative of civilized countries. There are the French- inspired and named, neoclassical in style, that make their dwellers feel as if in Paris. Nothing better than to leave one of their flats to enter one of those restaurants bearing a French name and continue imagining, inside, that something resembling French food is served within.
Still in this wonderland, we see the sober and elegant fa\u00e7ades of English-style buildings. We have the clear feeling of being in London. If your building is located close to Roosevelt Square, try to walk there, and you will certainly feel in Hampstead Heath. The only problem might lye in the fact not a single tulip can be found in the place \u2013 yet, after all, who needs them?
If your building, in its turn, is located in the Jardins area, walk to Marginal Pinheiros freeway, trying to figure the window in your building from which Turner used to paint. Not to mention the \u201cdesigner\u201d buildings, any Maison by some international couturier, perfect for those wearing Pucci, Ricci, or Gucci, whose architecture can be worse than its haut-couture models.
Yet, for those who were already fed up with the round corners of the Mediterranean-style buildings which overwhelmed our city, now pay attention to the proliferation of jutting buildings, in which there is not a single straight-angled wall. Bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms are now full of corners, chamfered walls, and juts. All furniture must be designed to fit those triangular spaces. Cut-crystal glasses and clothes purchased at outlet shops are welcome. If the dwellers are privileged enough, they will see one of these new and accurate street clocks \u2013 also beveled in shape \u2013 placed in front of their apartment, perfectly matching their building\u2019s architecture.
Prince Charles of England, who had already demonstrated all his sensibility when picking Rita Lee as his favorite rock singer, has wisely made his contribution against modern architecture by saying: \u201cIf a building cannot express itself, how can we understand it?\u201d
Sometimes, poor architecture tries to express itself, but there seems to be no-one willing to hear. Let\u2019s just look at the cosmetic operation clinics around the city. All it takes is for us to pay attention to their hideous banners. What will those surgeons not do to the face of the ladies seeking them, once they were able to do such atrocities to the fa\u00e7ades of their own clinics?
There are also those works of art who want to say something, but just cannot, or those whose projects do speak out \u2013 but only say non-sense. In those cases, the solution would be to request the city\u2019s Historic Heritage Council to continue, in addition to assigning historical value to buildings worth preserving, to tear down all the rest, in the literal sense of the word.
If, at the end, that is not possible, all that is left to do is pray. Ask Christo to save us. The Bulgarian, evidently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Folha de S.Paulo
Ilustrada
August 27th, 1991<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isayweinfeld.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essays\/211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isayweinfeld.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essays"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isayweinfeld.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essays"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isayweinfeld.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}