Architecture fraternity mourns the loss of Brazillian Architect and 2006 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The architect was fighting lung cancer and hospitalized in Sao Paolo and passed away at the dawn of 23, March 2021.
Described as a “role model” for architects, Mendes da Rocha was the recipient of many of architecture’s highest accolades including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2006.
His work became synonymous to brutalist archtitecture in Brazil because of the use of cheap concrete available there. The cultural centres designed by his firm are credited with modernising Brazil’s largest city.
Born in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil in 1928, he moved to São Paulo as a young man, where he graduated from FAU-Mackenzie in 1954. In a few years of practice, he built a lot of projects, especially residences of great quality, where concrete was the primary material of construction. He was also a professor of design at FAU-USP from 1961 to 1999.
He was globally recognised as a major architect of the 20th century, despite rarely building outside his native country, Brazil. Mendes da Rocha’s most famous buildings are in São Paulo, including the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo, the Brazilian Sculpture Museum and the Athletic Club of São Paulo.
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