Publication

  • Casa de Vidro: The Bardis' Life between Art, Architecture and Landscape
    Sol Camacho
    Editor
    Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro, 2020
  • GRANTEE
    Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro
    GRANT YEAR
    2019

Photographer unknown, Lina Bo Bardi’s birthday, São Paulo, Brazil, December 5, 1989. Courtesy Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro.

The first in-depth publication dedicated to Lina Bo Bardi’s Glass House, Casa de Vidro: The Bardis' Life between Art, Architecture and Landscape presents unpublished iconographic material and discloses new knowledge on the project while addressing challenges in the preservation of modern architecture. The publication introduces the building’s complete history and transformation over time, spanning subjects from the construction of the Glass House, the growth of its emblematic tropical garden, the domestic and social life of one of the most influential couples of Brazil’s twentieth century cultural context. Designed in 1951 and listed as historical heritage in 1987, the Glass House is the first constructed work of Lina Bo Bardi and was the residence of the Bardis for 40 years. A precursor to the architect’s larger civic projects, the house has become an icon of Brazilian and Latin American modern architecture.

Sol Camacho is an architect and urban designer leading RADDAR, an innovative practice in research and design acting in Sao Paulo and Mexico City. Since 2017 she has been the cultural rirector of the Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro where she is in charge for the conservation of the house and Lina Bo Bardi’s archive as well as exhibitions and cultural events. In this role Camacho launched and designed the Pavilhão de Verão (Summer Pavilion) and has curated the exhibitions: MASP de Lina: 50 Years of the Building, Lina’s Garden, a project in continuous construction, and Glass Houses exhibition and book (2019), a comparison between Bardi’s, Eames’, Farnsworth and Johnson’s houses. She was also cocurator of the exhibition Walls of Air (2018) and editor of the book for the Brazilian Pavilion for the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Camacho graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Design, is a teacher at Escola da Cidade in São Paulo, and has taught, written, and lectured extensively internationally on architecture, urban design, and conservation.

Renato Anelli is an architect, urban planner, and full professor of history of architecture and urban design at the Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of São Paulo in São Carlos, Brazil. Since 2006 he has been a board member at Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro and jointly coordinated the conservation and management plan for the house. Anelli also curated the Glass Houses exhibition.

Aline Coelho Sanches Corato is a professor at the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo in São Carlos, Brazil, working in the areas of architecture, theory and history of art, urbanism, and cities in Brazil, Latin America, and Italy. Coelho worked as researcher for the conservation and management plan for the house.

Alina Paias is an architect and urbanist graduated from the University of São Paulo with a year of academic mobility in TU Delft, in the Netherlands. She currently works at RADDAR in the implementation plan of the conservation and management project of Casa de Vidro.

Flora Milanez is an architect and urbanist graduated from the University of São Paulo with a year of academic mobility in TU Delft, in the Netherlands. She currently works at RADDAR in the implementation plan of the Conservation and Management project of Casa de Vidro.

Carolina Tatani is a conservator graduated from FAAP (Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation) and Templo da Arte Technical Centre, works at Instituto Bardi as documentalist and conservator since 2015. She has participated as the Institute’s courier and installer of local and international exhibitions.

Isadora Porfirio is an architect graduated from the University of Campinas. She works at the Instituto Bardi as assistant researcher in the archive since 2018.

Instituto Bardi was created by Lina Bo and Pietro Maria Bardi in 1990, as a perpetuation of the couple’s effort to promote Brazilian culture and art. The private, nonprofit institution has a mission, as its creators intended, to promote study and research in the areas of architecture, design, urbanism, and Brazilian popular art. Focusing on exhibitions, publications, lectures, and conferences, the institute provides public access to relevant aspects of national artistic thought and production. It maintains a vast and valuable documentary archive, including all Lina Bo Bardi's original built and unbuilt project drawings and the Bardis’ art collection, private library, and miscellaneous documents. The Instituto Bardi is based in the Glass House (Casa de Vidro), the first constructed work of Lina Bo Bardi. Residence of the Bardi couple for 40 years and listed as historical heritage in 1987, the Glass House is an icon of Brazilian modern architecture.