Paulo Mendes da Rocha: Fifty Years (Projects 1957-2007)
PAULO MENDES DA ROCHA: PROJECTS 1957/2006 by Paulo Mendes da Rocha and Rosa Artigas (Rizzoli, 368 pages; $85). Brutalism is back. Or at least that once reviled architectural movement is being seriously re-evaluated. Best known for its heavy, monumental forms and the rough textures of its concrete surfaces, the style reached its apogee in postwar Europe, where it went on to become a symbol of the soullessness of postwar Modernism. A half-century later Brutalism is being rediscovered by a younger generation that sees it as an instructive counterpoint to the saccharine, theme-park architecture that plagues so many of today's cities. Those who still refuse to believe that Brutalism had a soulful side can pick up a copy of this book. Built mostly around his native São Paulo, Mr. Mendes da Rocha's work is injected with just the right hint of Brazilian hedonism, so that his buildings have a primitive quality worlds apart from the suffocating grayness of their European cousins. Best of all, a number of more recent projects demonstrate that in the hands of a true master the style has not exhausted its imaginative potential. NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF --New York Times 12/7/2007