A design guide to South America’s most dynamic city
This sprawling mega-city can be a tough nut to crack. Follow a trail influenced by a famed local architect to find the best architectural landmarks, restaurants and design stores.
No doubt about it, São Paulo is a tough nut to crack. The sheer scale and sprawling layout of this Brazilian mega-city – with one of the world’s largest populations at more than 22 million people in the metropolitan area – are hard to get your head around. But for those prepared to make the effort, rich rewards definitely await. “Sampa’s” febrile creative energy, along with its vibrant contemporary art and restaurant scenes, rank it among South America’s most thrilling urban destinations.
It was this creative ferment, I like to think, that appealed to Lina Bo Bardi. Achillina Bo, born in Rome in 1914, trained as an architect and emigrated to Brazil together with her husband, Pietro Maria Bardi (a writer and curator), in 1946 after her Milan studio was destroyed by Allied bombs. In São Paulo she soon came into contact with the new current of Brazilian Modernist architecture whose biggest names were Oscar Niemeyer, Lúcio Costa and Roberto Burle Marx. If in her lifetime she never quite attained the prestige of her male contemporaries, in recent years the tide has turned.
Not only is Lina now regarded as one of the most influential design talents of her generation, but São Paulo has taken her to its heart as an emblematic figure in the city’s creative history. With careful planning (and ideally with the help of English-speaking cultural guide Renato Crestincov), a route can be followed taking in Lina’s most important São Paulo buildings in the course of a relaxed day tour with a break for lunch. The Bo Bardi trail offers a fast-track way into a city that can otherwise be challenging to navigate.
The trail might begin at Casa de Vidro (“glass house”), the extraordinary home Lina designed for herself in 1950 and lived in until her death in 1992. When Lina and Pietro Maria pitched up in São Paulo, the leafy suburb of Morumbi was thickly forested by first-growth Atlantic woodland and had yet to be colonised by the expanding city. A flat-roofed pavilion raised off the ground by slender iron pillars, Casa de Vidro is protected from prying eyes by a thicket of tall trees.
In 1950s Brazil this must have been a radical proposition indeed. Sliding walls of plate glass are still running smoothly in their tracks after more than a half-century of use. Arranged around the spacious interior are classic furniture pieces like Le Corbusier’s iconic chaise longue alongside works by Lina herself, such as the Frei Egídio chair (supposed to have been based on a priest’s folding stool), the wooden Giraffe chair with its simple shape and high-backed neck, and the famous Bowl armchair, still as fresh and modern-looking as the moment it was created.
During their earliest years in São Paulo the Bardis became friends with the wealthy Brazilian diplomat, journalist and collector Assis Chateaubriand, who, in 1957, planned a monumental museum in which to house his impressive haul of fine art. The site he had in mind was Avenida Paulista, the city’s grandest thoroughfare, originally populated by the mansions of coffee barons and now by the gleaming towers of banks and businesses. The architect he hired for the project was Lina Bo Bardi.
If Lina’s first project in Brazil had been private and personal in nature, her second would propel her to instant public fame and renown. Exemplifying the geometric Modernist style then in vogue, even now the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) is breathtaking in its radical simplicity. The museum’s 75-metre length is suspended horizontally between two large rectangular arches coloured, strikingly and unforgettably, an eye-popping red. MASP is now regarded as one of São Paulo’s boldest and best-loved buildings, becoming to its host city what the Pompidou is to Paris or Tate Modern to London: an art museum whose home is itself a modern masterpiece.
If the star of this particular show is the art on display within the museum’s high-ceilinged, light-filled halls – it ranges from old-master paintings and post-Impressionist oils to works by important 20th-century Brazilian artists such as Dalton Paula, Tarsila do Amaral and Candido Portinari – traces of Lina are everywhere. Glass easels with a concrete base, designed by her and still in use throughout the museum, hold the paintings in a way that allows them to be examined from all sides. At MASP’s in-house restaurant, A Baianeira, which specialises in Brazilian regional cuisine with a big-city spin, the chairs are copies of Lina’s classic Giraffe design, also on view at her house in Morumbi.
Lina Bo Bardi had been a card-carrying Communist since her days in wartime Italy and her later work clearly brings her socialist ideals to the fore. In 1982 she designed a cultural and leisure centre known as Sesc Pompéia around the bare bones of a former factory in São Paulo’s Villa Romana neighbourhood. The Brutalist building’s huge interior spaces, which the architect peeled back to their original brick, echo with the excited voices of local families drawn by the centre’s dizzying array of libraries, cinemas, theatres, restaurants and bars, gymnasium and swimming pool. After 20 years of dictatorship in Brazil during which Bo Bardi had been marginalised for her ideological convictions, Sesc Pompéia was a powerful argument for democracy and accessibility.
This design-forward city tour might have its final stop in Bixiga – the area was originally popular with Italian settlers in the post-WWII period when Lina herself stepped off the boat from the old country – and the Teatro Oficina, one of her last works. The Oficina is certainly an unconventional theatre, curiously long and thin, with a ramp leading down from street level into a performance area so narrow the audience is hugger-mugger with the action. Behind the corridor-like stage are massive windows giving onto an abandoned wasteground where a large tree is said to have been planted by Lina herself.
Three levels of galleries, racked up like those of Shakespearean theatres, are built out of the same kind of tubular scaffolding she first used for the bookshelves at Casa de Vidro. Teatro Oficina has the formal rigour and simplicity of her other São Paulo projects, given new force by her firm belief that good design should never be the exclusive province of the elite. Outside the theatre stands a sign reading Rua Lina Bo Bardi. If for too many years Lina’s brilliance was insufficiently recognised by the guardians of Brazilian culture, it says something that she now has a street named after her.
Renato Crestincov can be contacted at localguidesaopaulo.com
WHERE TO SHOP
Apartamento 61: Vivian Lobato and André Visockis are the design lovers behind this artfully curated mix of vintage and contemporary furnishings, as well as artworks, in a restored Modernist house in the hip Jardins district. apartamento61.com.br
Atelier Carlos Motta: A name to conjure with among contemporary Brazilian designers, Motta’s chunky designs – such as the Jaraguá sofa and Caju coffee table, often made using ecologically certified or recycled wood – were epoch-making in their day and still exude a highly desirable retro cool. Visits by appointment only. carlosmotta.com.br
Dois Trópicos: The passion project of Fernando Werney and Carol Von Atzingen, Dois Trópicos is a unique fusion of concept store, café, art gallery, yoga studio and botanical garden, all situated in a serenely minimalist locale in the fashionable Pinheiros neighbourhood. doistropicos.com
Dpot: An unmissable stop for fans of Brazilian design, Dpot stocks some of Lina Bo Bardi’s most well-known pieces, including the legendary Bowl chair and high-backed Giraffe chairs. The building, a sensational Modernist design in a lush garden setting, is worth the detour in itself. dpot.com.br
Etel: This sleek, chic showroom on Alameda Gabriel Monteiro da Silva (a few blocks from Dpot) concentrates on avant-garde furniture from the early 20th century to the present day, with quality re-editions of classic works by such luminaries as Lasar Segall and Oswaldo Bratke. etel.design
Loja MASP: The in-house gift shop at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo is a treasure trove of Bo Bardi-themed merchandise, from books about her work (even a children’s book, Lina: Adventures of an Architect) to a miniature scale model of her leather-and-metal Tripé armchair of 1950. masploja.org.br
Marcenaria Baraúna: Self-styled “architects who do furniture projects”, and specialising in Brazilian designs in wood, Baraúna has been the go-to for quality re-editions of Lina Bo Bardi pieces since 1987, and is officially approved by the Instituto Bardi. barauna.com.br
+55design: Another fine showcase for local design, +55 is among the city’s most remarkable interiors and a must-see in the Jardins. 55-design.com
Teo: This design company has three departments – a store, gallery and architectural-salvage warehouse – and a single mission: the rescue and restoration of antique Brazilian furniture, lighting and objects dating from 1940 to 1970. Galeria Teo, an impressive space in iron and glass, is a short walk from popular street-art site Batman’s Alley. casateo.com.br
Recommendations by São Paulo interior designer Marina Linhares. marinalinharesinteriores.com
WHERE TO DINE
Arturito: Paola Carosella is the Argentine chef at this much-loved, much-lauded restaurant with its light-filled interior and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. arturito.com.br
Atlântico 212: The interior by MNMA Studio is a Brutalist symphony in raw concrete; the menu turns on fish and shellfish – much of it also raw. Pinheiros at its coolest. @atlantico212
Casa de Francisca: A rare gem in São Paulo’s often down-at-heel old-town zone, Francisca’s House is a charming and colourful establishment on the first floor of Palacete Teresa, a historical mansion. Live music and DJ sets make for a fun night out. casadefrancisca.art.br
Casa do Porco: Now riding high in the World’s Best list, this downtown bar-restaurant stands out for its electric atmosphere and slick service – not to mention a scrumptious menu of global pork-based snacks. @acasadoporcobar
Dalva e Dito: Brought to you by fêted chef Alex Atala, Dalva e Dito’s modern-rustic dining room is deservedly popular for its lovingly prepared homestyle Brazilian food. dalvaedito.com.br
Kotori: Saturday nights see a creative crowd gather at this plywood-and-concrete cocktail lounge to feast on Japanese dumplings, yakitori and miso-infused cod. @kotori.sp
Pappagallo: Excellent Italian cooking and a funky interior – a high-ceilinged 1940s house stripped back to the bare brick. @pappagallo.cucina
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel Fasano: Designed in 2003 by the legendary duo of Isay Weinfeld and Marcio Kogan, the Fasano is an institution in São Paulo’s upscale Jardins district. Channelling low-lit 1930s glamour and sleek 2000s chic, it provides the perfect refuge from the city’s noise and bustle. The hotel’s Italian restaurant, reflecting the origins of the Fasano family, is one of the best in town. Other hotels with the family name have since opened in various Brazilian cities, but this is the original and best. fasano.com.br
Hotel Unique: Opened in 2002 and recently refurbished, the Unique is a gleaming, no-holds-barred statement of 21st-century Modernism by architect Ruy Ohtake and a global classic of the “design hotel” genre. Well placed for the woods and lawns of Parque Ibirapuera (don’t miss the park’s dome-like pavilions by celebrated Oscar Niemeyer), the Unique also offers São Paulo’s most spectacular urban views from its trendy rooftop bar-restaurant Skye. hotelunique.com
London-based travel company Cazenove+Loyd offers tailor-made itineraries to São Paulo, Brazil, as well as more expansive journeys that include Rio, Salvador and the Pantanal. cazloyd.com
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