MASP is pleased to announce that it has been honored by the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, USA, with the Keeping It Modern grant to develop research into the conservation of modern buildings around the world. In Brazil, the Arthur Neiva Pavilion (2015) has been awarded in previous editions, in Rio de Janeiro; the FAUUSP (2015) and the Casa de Vidro (2016), in São Paulo.
The MASP award, along with eleven other buildings representative of modern architecture in the world, indicates the recognition of this work of Lina Bo Bardi in the international scene, for the innovative character of its architecture and engineering at the time of construction. Contrary to what one imagines when seeing its exterior, the building is not trapped by the apparent red beams of the roof. Lina's radical approach, when taking advantage of state-of-the-art Brazilian engineering, developed by engineer José Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz, was to design two other internal beams, located between the 1st and 2nd floors, that cross the building in all its extension, joining to the four outer red columns. It is these two beams that support the entire upper part of the building: both the second floor floor, allowing it to be free, without pillars, like the first floor slab, which is suspended above the world at the time of its construction. The red exterior beams are thus responsible for sustaining only the roof of the building.
The project, which has a term of one year to be finalized, will be aimed at understanding the structural behavior of the building, from which the pathologies and deformations presented during its 50 years of existence will be evaluated. The objective of the work is to develop a plan with conservation guidelines and permanent maintenance.
The team responsible for the project, coordinated by the architect Silvio Oksman of Metropolis Associados, and managed by MASP Project Manager Miriam Elwing, is made up of the architect of the museum staff, Lúcia Furlan, along with external consultants from the areas of architecture and engineering, and architect Martin Corullon of Metro Arquitectos, who since 2015 has developed the building's design and construction projects, including the return of the glass trestles to the MASP's art gallery.
Throughout 2018, the works can be accompanied by reports and seminars that the Museum will promote in order to stimulate the debate about its modern building and architecture in Brazil and in the world.
In this edition, the Getty Foundation also contemplated the following buildings: Cathedral of Coventry, in Coventry, England; Boston City Hall, Boston, USA; Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex in Sidi Harazem, Morocco; Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan; Faculty of Architecture, Middle East Techinical University, Ankara, Turkey; St. Peter's Seminary, Glasgow, Scotland; Government Museum and Art Gallery; Chandigarh, India; Price Tower, Bartlesville, USA; Melnikov House, Moscow, Russia; Bauhaus Building, Dessau, Germany; Flaminio Stadium, Rome, Italy.