Design and Discourse. Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Geography and Potential architecture.
Paulo Mendes da Rocha, architectural competitions, geography, Milton Santos, potential architecture, design, discourse.
The work here presented navigates in the sense of reading the architectural project as an expanded field that longs to dialogue with different disciplines in order to understand its own history and thus, who knows, produce plural and solidary cities. In this context, Paulo Mendes da Rocha's way of thinking offers multiple paths, one of which is his dense presence in architectural competitions (45 participations). Bearing in mind the latency of the construction of an idea based in discourse and drawing these contests provide, there is a vast opportunity of reflections with this architectural potential. Herewith, the prospects open at the idea of discourse and drawing oriented by an intention. Using the architect's own discourse (interviews, texts and memoirs), it is promising to find some constant guidelines, such as the city, history and geography. Then, the hypothesis arises of the possibility of interpretation of Mendes da Rocha's projects in the light of three concepts that permeate architecture and geography. Landscape, territory and space. These concepts are built echoing the thought of Brazilian geographer Milton Santos.