Modern architecture and Condephaat at selectives practices challenger

Abstract

This article describes the protection of modern architecture by Conselho de Defesa do Patrimônio Histórico, Artístico, Arqueológico e Turístico do Estado de São Paulo (Condephaat) from a historical perspective, and aims to problematize the understanding of modernity and the ascription of value to twentieth-century architecture. In this article, we address the actions taken by the São Paulo State heritage protection agency with regards to modern buildings, discussing what was understood as modern, as well as its relation to the discursive legacy of the historiography of modern architecture. Understanding that modern architecture is an integral part of the accepted canons of national heritage, we question to what extent Condephaat’s approach to modern architecture managed to shift from the logic of an idea of architecture that is based on critique and its aesthetic or stylistic attributes. We will discuss the role of the tradition of the group of modern architects in the ascription of value to modern São Paulo architecture, and to achieve an understanding of how the progressive changes to the heritage field in the 1970s, and clearly in the 1980s, affected the preservation of modern architecture by Condephaat, until the recent listings in 2000s.