On board of the Guaspari building

Abstract

This article presents part of the process of the modernity of the city of Porto Alegre in the mid-1930s through the analysis of the Guaspari building, designed by Fernando Corona in 1936, and the overlapping of times throughout the existence of this building. The great event of the Farroupilha Revolution’s Centennial Exhibition in 1935 and the construction of buildings with pure volumes and façades devoid of ornamentation are some of the indications of the arrival of the new times in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The Guaspari building has a light of its own that condenses the spirit of the thirties, as one of the reminiscences of the Exhibition’s ephemeral pavilions, remaining in the imaginary of the city. The reference of the ship was present both in the architecture of Le Corbusier and in expressionism, particularly in the works of Mendelsohn. With more or less intensity, the Guaspari building resembles naval engineering, with the intention of translating the laws of motion architecturally, as if they were floating in the sea of the flow of people and cars or accompanying their movement. The history of the Guaspari building has three phases: the first consists in the elaboration, articulation of references, approval and construction of the architectural project – anchored; the second registers the building submerged in luxalon for a long period, totally unrecognizable – covered; and the third registers the resurgence of the Guaspari building in center of Porto Alegre – in sight.

Keywords: Fernando Corona, Guaspari Building, modern architecture in Porto Alegre.