There is a lot of talk at the moment about Zaha Hadid, the queen of parametric design. Yet come next year we may finally rediscover Lina Bo Bardi, who, born in Rome in 1914, spent most of her time in Brazil, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy as an architect, set and costume designer, editor, illustrator, furniture designer and curator.
As mentioned in a previous post, in 2014 we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of her birth, though in some countries the homage and tribute events have already started.
As part of the British Council’s Transform programme - a series of arts and cultural exchanges between the UK and Brazil in the run up to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games - last Autumn the British Council organised in London an ehibition entitled "Lina Bo Bardi Together".
This year the British institution has launched instead the Lina Bo Bardi Fellowship: the latter gives architects and designers based in the UK the opportunity to travel to Brazil and explore Bo Bardi's work and legacy, while raising awareness and understanding about her work and her contribution to architecture, culture and society.
Architect Jane Hall is the first recipient of the Fellowship, as announced yesterday in a press release. Hall, who studied illustration at Central Saint Martins and then graduated in Architecture from King’s College Cambridge in 2009 and The Royal College of Art in 2013, is currently working as an Architectural Assistant at Studio Weave Architects in London.
There are similarities between Bo Bardi's works and Hall's interests in infrastructure, in the social value of architecture and in collaborative methods of design. Apart from being an admirer of Bo Bardi's architecture, Hall would like to explore the impact of Lina Bo Bardi’s work on the practice of architecture in Brazil, and hopefully she will manage to discover more in her research trip to Brazil that will take place from November and that will last for 4-6 weeks.
In a press release Hall said that the Lina Bo Bardi Fellowship offers a unique opportunity and that she hopes to focus her research on how society, culture and the notion of "Brazilianess" affect architectural practice in Brazil today, working with and recording the work and aspirations of students and young practices.
“Lina's ideas on this subject - given her adoption of Brazil and passion for the country's way of life - indicate the power that identity and culture can have on the development of new methodologies for design and construction," Hall added. "I intend to re-visit Lina's progressive and social ideas concerning the practice of architecture. I feel this especially relevant in a 21st century context, given the challenges faced by Brazil to modernise and implement infrastructure as the Olympics and World Cup approach."
Bo Bardi often argued that a country should build its identity from the foundation of its own roots, this is the main reason why she studied Brazilian history and culture and often organised exhibitions that celebrated popular culture, while keeping firmly in mind the importance of integrating social values in her designs such as the SESC Pompeia - a social-culture leisure centre which opened in Sao Paulo in 1982.
Hopefully Hall will also also get the chance to study a bit more Bo Bardi's contributions to film and theatre through her costume designs and set decorations as these topics would indeed open new and more exciting paths to rediscover Bo Bardi's heritage.
The Lina Bo Bardi Fellowship is organised in partnership with SESC SP and the Instituto Lina Bo and P.M. Bardi.
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