A Condição Poética da Arquitetura: O Exemplo do Pavilhão Suíço de Le Corbusier e P. Jeanneret

Abstract

The "Poetics", is a quality that can be situated, simultaneously, in the architectural project and in the work itself, the result. From the outset, we knew that the word is complex, ambiguous and difficult to explain. It has an enormous range of fields, but we also know that we were finding it in practically all the authors that accompanied our degree at FAUP, proposed both in theoretical and practical subjects. Without chronological order, and with the contribution, at various levels of theorizing thought, we reread authors like Manuel Botelho, Le Corbusier, Josep Quetglas, Paul Valéry, Bruno Zevi, Peter Zumthor, Carlos Martí Arís, Álvaro Siza, S. E. Rasmussen, among others. We try to clarify what is "Poetics", what is "Construction", what is "Architecture" and, what is the "Poetic Profession". This paper argues that poetics, like construction, is a necessary condition for there to be architecture. At the same time, we made a list of ten case studies that we intended to treat - constructions already visited corresponding to the most memorable experiences, in the field of architecture, in which qualities are recognised that infect those who inhabit or visit them.¹ In addition to the Swiss Pavilion (1931-1933), the Basilica of St. Lawrence (1421-1441) by F. Brunelleschi, among other authors;² the Library of St. Lawrence (1523-1525) by Michelangelo; the Maison La Roche (1923-1925) by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret; the Maison Louis Carré (1956 -1959) by Alvar Aalto; the Casa de Chã and Restaurant of Boa Nova (1958-1963) and the Parish Complex of Marco de Canaveses (1994-1996) by Álvaro Siza; the Mudec -Museo delle Culture di Milano (1990s-2014) by David Chipperfield; the Departamento de Mecânica (1991-1996) by Adalberto Dias; the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego (2005-2009) by E. Souto de Moura. Souto de Moura. We started and finished, after all, only one of them, the Swiss Pavilion in the university city of Paris by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. We hope we have managed to turn a study trip and visit into a small but sincere written and designed dissertation. This study focused on very clear factors, from the program; to implantation; scale and proportion;- construction; resistance to time; expression and economy of means of expression. In addition to our re-reading, of the 21st century, of the original technical documents of the Swiss Pavilion, a look at the theory and methods of designing, in which some discourses are also considered, particularly those of Le Corbusier. The personal skills of the authors in the exercise of the "poetic profession": the doubt and the decision; the history; the need to write; the correspondence with clients; the monitoring of the work; the drawing; the instruments; the ways of doing; etc. The expression "Poetic Profession", which we have adopted in this dissertation, is the title of the monograph nº6, from the series Quaderni di Lotus, published in 1986, on the work of Álvaro Siza - Alvaro Siza: Professione poética (poetic profession). More than presenting a sequence of the various versions of the pavilion, we seek, in the manner of Peter Zumthor, to understand what struck us about the "experienced" work and why it struck us.³ The search for material reasons. Because of its poetic (material) density, the Swiss Pavilion still "sings" today.