The Dissolution of Buildings (Gsapp Transcripts): 5

Can an architect pass through walls? Can the city permeate a house? In The Dissolution of Buildings, architect Angelo Bucci presents projects in his native São Paulo and abroad. Advocating an architecture that is "the opposite of global action," his work responds to the topography of the city and to its urban environment. In a lecture delivered at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Bucci discusses work designed with his firm SPBR, projects that span from the scale of the house to the city. His built work is here accompanied by an excerpt from his doctoral dissertation, which explores how the devices available to architecture―and the sectional manipulation of groundplanes in particular―can mitigate some of the inequities and exclusions built in to the fabric of the contemporary city. An essay by Kenneth Frampton frames these projects within the rich lineage of Brazilian house design and members of the Paulista school such as Paulo Mendes da Rocha and João Batista Vilanova Artigas.

For over twenty-five years, Angelo Bucci has been dedicated to building design, sharing his time between academic and professional practice. These parallel activities define his specific approach to his projects, in with professional demands serve as a starting point from which to research and propose new architectural directions. Bucci is founder and principal of São Paulo-based SPBR Architects. He was also founder and associate of MMBB Architects from 1996 to 2002. He has taught studios at the University of São Paulo and also as a visiting professor in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States.

Kenneth Frampton is a renowned architectural historian and author of many seminal essays and books, including Modern Architecture: A Critical History. He is the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.