MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN MACEIÓ-AL:

notes on history, preservation and recognition.

Abstract

This article deals with a fragment of landscape that marked an intense transformation moment in the city of Maceió, Alagoas, involving the arrival of architects, the construction of buildings and many urban interventions. It is a legacy built during the early years of the twentieth century’s second half which consists not only by houses, clubs and streets of a straight character, but also by a desire to develop and progress that has resulted, for example, in the creation of the first Architecture and Urbanism Course in the State. The physical representations of this way of thinking are disappearing and with them also fade away traces of the complex and convincing contribution of modernist architects and designers in this field of knowledge, who advocated the dissolution of categories such as erudite and vernacular, material and immaterial, when it comes to the construction and appropriation of heritage. This was noticed based on a research that involved, in addition to a literature review, a physical evaluation of part of the buildings recognized as modernist in the city, as well as a study of their recognition by architecture students from colleges based in Maceió and accessed through a virtual questionnaire. We sought to comprehend, therefore, what importance this portion of society understands modern architecture has and, with the on-site visit to buildings constructed between 1955 and 1963, it was possible to see their contemporary situations in terms of physical state and its recognition.