Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Vila Madalena, Sao Paulo, Brasil, 1956-1960
OfHouses presents “Pritzkers’ First Houses”: We have previously published the Wimbledon House designed by Richard Rogers (Pritzker 2007), so we jump to the first house built by Paulo Mendes da Rocha (Pritzker 2006). It is very difficult to ascertain which one is his first, because at around the same time (1960) he had completed three houses: two identical ones for José Raul Brasiliense Carneiro and the Virgílio Lopes da Silva House pictured above. Although still existing (and some in quite good shape), neither of the three were published in his recent monographs and – with the exception of the excellent “Itinerario Mendes da Rocha (Cordoba: Fondacion Arquitectura Contemporanea, 2011)” – we doubt that they were published anywhere at all. Given the fact that the Lopes da Silva house was commissioned in 1956, two years before the Brasiliense Carneiro houses, we can say that this one is Mendes da Rocha’s first residential design. (Photos: © Archivo Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Source: Itinerario Mendes da Rocha (Cordoba: Fondacion Arquitectura Contemporanea, 2011), pp 57; Google Street View, 2011.)
