A major chapter in the history of Brazilian architecture was written by a woman, the architect Lina Bo Bardi. Italian by birth, after making her professional debut in the Milan office of Gio Ponti, Lina Bo spent most of her professional life in Sao Paulo, where she arrived in 1946 with her husband P. M. Bardi and where she remained until her death in 1992.
The Zurich Museum für Gestaltung, together with the Lina Bo and P. M. Bardi Institute, is dedicating an extensive retrospective exhibition to this female figure and professional. On display are drawings, sketches, plans, photographs, models, furnishings and a video illustrating her best known architecture.
From the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (1957-1968), to the SESC-Pompéia sports-cultural center (1977) where, by building two concrete towers beside an old disused factory, Lina Bo Bardi managed to create a symbol for the city of Sao Paulo. Right up to the “Casa de Vidro” (glass house, 1951), a simple cube that seems to flutter in the surrounding environment, with no support.
Thru 4 March
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Austellungsstrasse 60
