Lucio Costa

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Burle Marx, Roberto (1909–94). Brazilian artist, best-known as one of the outstanding landscape architects and garden designers of the 20th century, but also active as a painter, sculptor, and designer of fabrics, jewellery, and stage sets. He was born in São Paulo to a Brazilian mother of French descent and a German-born father. In 1928–9 his family lived in Berlin, where he attended art classes at the Academy and developed an interest in Brazilian plants through visits to the city's Botanic Gardens. Back in Brazil he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro in 1930, studying painting under Portinari, whom he later assisted with tiled murals at the Ministry of Education in Rio (1937). In 1933 Burle Marx completed the first of the many garden projects that made him one of the most celebrated and best-loved artists in his country. He used colourful tropical plants arranged as sculptural groups within free-flowing patterns and succeeded in creating ‘a style of landscape design that is at once essentially Brazilian and wholly of the 20th century’ (Oxford Companion to Gardens, 1986). Many of his designs are skilfully harmonized with examples of Brazil's striking modern architecture, for example his garden and roof terraces (1938) for the Ministry of Education in Rio (the architect was Lucio Costa, later famous for his work at the new capital Brasilia). Burle Marx designed gardens in other counties in Latin America and also in the USA.

Costa, Lúcio (1902–98). One of Brazil's most influential architects and planners. Born in France, he settled in Brazil, and was influenced by Gregori Warchavchik, with whom he worked for a time. He was in the vanguard of International Modernism in Brazil, and headed a team of young architects (all disciples of Le Corbusier) designing the building for the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro (1936–43), for which Le Cor-busier was consultant architect and Burle Marx was landscape-architect. Costa and Niemeyer designed the Brazilian Pavilion at the World's Fair, NYC (1939), and he himself was responsible for the Eduardo Guinle apart-ment-block in Rio (1948–54) and the Brazilian Pavilion at the Cité Universitaire, Paris (1955). In 1956–7 the imagination of the world was captured by his plan for the new capital, Brasília, and construction moved rapidly ahead. The plan is formal, in the shape of a bow and arrow, and it encapsulates many of the principles laid down by CIAM in the Athens Charter: it has not lived up to its expectations.

Bibliography

Bullrich (1969);
L. Costa (1962);
Gazeneo & and Scarone (1959);
Guimaraens (1996)

Burle Marx, Roberto (1909–94). Born São Paulo, Brazil, he studied botany at Dahlem, Berlin (1928), and became Director of Parks at Recife, Brazil, from 1934. In 1937 he set up his own practice as a landscape-architect. As a champion of Brazilian flora, he used native species in his designs, composing his palettes of colour with scientific care. He collaborated with Niemeyer and others in the designs of the gardens of the Ministry of Education and Health, Rio de Janeiro (1938), and with Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa at Brasília. His bayfront at Glória-Flamengo Park (1961) and the designs for the pavements along Copacabana Beach (1970), both in Rio de Janeiro, demonstrate his use of Brazilian stone and rocks with native plants. His deep interest in ecology is perhaps best demonstrated in his own gardens at Guaratiba, near Rio, but his most celebrated creation is the Odette Monteiro garden, Correas, Rio de Janeiro (1947–8).

Bibliography

Adams (1991);
Bardi (1964);
Kalman (1994);
Eliovson (1991);
Jane Turner (1996);
W&S (1994)

Lúcio Costa , 1902-98, As the principal designer of the city of Brasília (1957), Costa is known for his use of reinforced concrete in designs that combine traditional and modern forms. In Rio de Janeiro, the block of apartments in Guinle Park (1948-54) typifies his streamlined work. The Ministry of Education and Health (1937-42) exhibits his understanding of the effect of climatic considerations on architectural design.