FRESTA 02 invites a discussion on the constructive issue. We take this opportunity to feature the inaugural lecture given by São Paulo architect Marcos Acayaba in May 2007, addressing architecture as a constructive and technological process and as an adaptation to the material and construction conditions of the place. This discussion began within the modern movement itself and was highlighted in the writings of Reyner Banham, which in one way or another influenced the architecture of São Paulo in the 1960s. To go beyond Brutalism, we sought an earlier translation of Banham’s work, Machine Aesthetics, in which he identifies the first constructive tendencies of the 1950s. Banham is a keen observer of architecture of his time and pursues a critical line that points to the beginning of the approach to architecture as a product, as a constructive process, and finally as a technological process. Following this thread, there is an article by architect and professor Diego Portas that highlights the design process as a constructive ethic, directly linked to the design teaching process of the third-year studio at DAU/PUC-Rio, then taught by Portas and Marcos Favero. Ruth Verde Zein’s article provides a historical or ideological introduction to Marcos Acayaba’s architectural milieu, though it rejects the continuation of the so-called Paulista School in current production. We also present the Final Project of a former student from the Architecture and Urbanism Course at PUC-Rio, Marcela Marques Abla, who, under the guidance of Professor Fernando Betim, designed a construction system using scrap wood for a small experimental housing project aimed at environmental research. The project received the “Architect of Tomorrow” Award from IARJ and the FIRJAN “Rio Creative Challenge” Award in 2007.
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