Lina Bo Bardi: Material Ideologies
Princeton University Press, 2022
Paperback, color, 272 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9642641-7-5
Purchase: Princeton University Press
Lina Bo Bardi: Material Ideologies is the inaugural volume in the Princeton School of Architecture's Women in Design and Architecture (WDA) Publication Series. Based on the 2018 WDA Conference, Lina Bo Bardi: Material Ideologies presents new perspectives on Bo Bardi by leading contemporary artists, architects, curators, and scholars in order to engage the conceptual, social, and political philosophies latent in the architectural materials she chose—from her application of concrete to her implementation of nature and her reuse of vernacular materials. A collection of essays and archival materials from international contributors, the book reveals Bo Bardi's ideological strategies inherent in her iconic projects and lesser-known work.
Contributors include Sol Camacho, Beatriz Colomina, Mike Cooter, Joana França, Mario Gandelsonas, Jane Hall, Isaac Julien, Veronika Kellndorfer, Monica Ponce de Leon, Rafaela Mendes Ferreira, Zeuler R. M. de A. Lima, Silvana Rubino, Elena Tinacci, and Cathrine Veikos, along with WDA Alumni.
Italo-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914–92) is renowned for her boldly modernist designs like the São Paulo Museum of Art and the culture and leisure center SESC Pompéia. An artist, architect, activist, editor, designer, and writer, Bo Bardi’s career spanned a wide range of fields central to the built environment and cultural life. Her democratic designs were inclusive and stood as an open invitation to those typically excluded from elitist institutions, as evidenced in her exhibition concepts and systems. A champion for local craft and materials, Bo Bardi’s aesthetic stood out among the modernist movement in Brazil and abroad. Her iconic Casa de Vidro serves as a site of experimentation and discourse on the cultural potency of materials; its auxiliary buildings demonstrate how to thoughtfully integrate architecture with nature.
The Women in Design and Architecture (WDA) Publication Series celebrates the unwritten or underexplored histories of pivotal architects and designers.
