In its first edition—prepared by Professors Ana Luiza Nobre and Andres Passos and with a graphic design developed by the Architecture and Design Model Office of PUC-Rio—Fresta reproduces an excerpt from the inaugural lecture of 2006 at CAU, given by architect João Filgueiras Lima, known as Lele (p. 5). The choice of Lele (which naturally requires no justification) was not only due to the extraordinary quality of his work; it was also due to the exceptional nature of a practice, possibly unique in the world, that considers architecture not just as construction, but also and especially as production. At a time when almost everything is reduced to ephemeral and consumable images, Lele’s work affirmed the strength and relevance of a distinctly modern architecture, committed to shaping the spaces of modern life, particularly the city.
Another highlight of this edition is Josep Quetglas’ text (p. 3) on the concept of “modern.” As usual, the professor from ETSA Barcelona presents us with graffiti and trash cans to better understand the role and place of modern architects in the modern world.
Fresta also includes a text (unpublished in Portuguese) by the German artist Kurt Schwitters (p. 4). Published in 1927, on the occasion of the famous Weissenhof exhibition held in Stuttgart, the text illustrates how divergent the concepts of form could be among the protagonists of a modern movement characterized precisely by disputes and internal disagreements.
Finally, Fresta publishes an article by professors Andréa Passaro and Marcos Fávero (p. 2) and the academic work supervised by both (p. 7). The choice of this work by the editors was certainly not random, nor was it based on any criteria of representativeness. In any case, I believe the work somewhat reflects the character of our Course, as this Fresta issue shows.
Click here to access the edition.
