Brutalism in Brazil

Brazil developed its own school of concrete architecture, usually called Paulista brutalism after São Paulo, where it emerged in the late 1950s as a rougher, more structural counterpoint to the curvilinear modernism of Rio. Vilanova Artigas set its direction, and Paulo Mendes da Rocha became its most celebrated figure, spanning enormous concrete roofs over open civic space, as at the Museu Brasileiro de Escultura (MuBE) (1995).

The style valued exposed structure, deep shade, and public generosity in a tropical climate. João Filgueiras Lima, known as Lelé, extended it through prefabricated concrete systems, most famously in his Sarah network of hospitals, including Hospital Sarah Kubitschek (1980) in Salvador.