Delfim Amorim e o binómio do CODA enquanto manifesto de mudança

Abstract

Delfim Fernandes Amorim was a Portuguese architect that in just 25 years of profissional activity designed important landmarks of high quality in the Brazilian landscape of the city of Recife. He is a reference in the architecture panorama not only for the buildings that he designed, but also for his active and militant position in defending the Modern Movement's values as a teacher. His first years, still in Portugal, correspond to his period of studies at EBAP and the beggining of his professional activity until 1951, when he emigrated to Brazil. This time period continues to lack study and attention, as his produced works remain unpublished, anonymous, poorly documented, and facing degradation, abandonment and demolitions. Due to this situation, this research intends to fulfill a double purpose. On the one hand, to contextualize Delfim Amorim as an active member of the Portuguese panorama of the 1940s, aligning him with his pears in the production of thought and research that characterized and marked this historical period. If Delfim is, in Brazil, a resounding name in architecture and teaching, we pretend to understand his path as a student and as a young architect through the study and analysis of his 1947 CODA's project, a work that will perhaps be, although not built, the most relevant in the way in which it clearly expresses his architectural understanding and his maturity, absolutly aligned with the spirit of his time, materializing fundamental issues of his generation. On the other hand, there is the responsability of organizing and synthesizing the set of works produced by Amorim (together with Luís de Oliveira Martins) in Portuguese territory, hoping to contribute in some way to its future study, recognition and possible protection of the few buildings that remain from the almost 50 projects collected with his signature.