SÃO PAULO STATE BUILDING HERITAGE CARETAKING AS A CONSERVATIVE PROPOSITION

Mirza Pellicciotta – Ph.D in History, coordinator of the activities and organizer of the book The Buildings in Time: looks at conservation (Museu de Arte Sacra de São Paulo, 2019

Fabio Di Mauro - Architect, coordinator of the activities and organizer of the book The Buildings in Time: looks at conservation (Museu de Arte Sacra de São Paulo, 2019).

Clay and wood; stone, bricks, hardware, mortar, glass, tiles and stained glass; reinforced concrete ... the central region of the metropolis of São Paulo (urban conglomerate, today, with more than 12 million inhabitants) hides the marks of formation and transformation of the city. A region of restricted dimensions, it has been responsible for more than 400 years to exercise the functions of a political, religious, financial, commercial and service center in the vast territory of the city of São Paulo. In it, a wide range of establishments, institutions, equipment, activities and populations promoted the construction, reconstruction, renovation, changes and continuous transformation of spaces, environments and buildings, surviving testimonies from the colonial period of São Paulo alongside a thriving eclectic architecture, first modernist buildings and a vast set of modern examples. With the accelerated growth of the population (6 million in 50 years), new centralities would disperse these attributions, followed by the emptying, degradation and loss of significant portions of this vast, magnificent and singular collection.

In order to propose integrated conservation measures, particularly in the central region, in 2014 we organized a university extension course at the Museum of Sacred Art of São Paulo (in partnership with Faculdade São Bento and support from Estúdio Sarasá) to train caretakers of the built heritage in São Paulo state; a professional with broad vision and conservative references who would act in the preservation of São Paulo's built goods. Conceived as a forum for discussions and exchange of knowledge, the course Zeladores do Patrimônio Edificado Paulista (Caretakers of São Paulo State Building Heritage) offered 269 class hours to 20 students and brought together 56 specialists over 33 weeks to deal with construction processes, materials and techniques (understood in their timeframes ), feasibility and conservation management.

Composed of theoretical classes, technical visits and digital materials grouped into four modules (technical approaches, theoretical-practical modules of rammed earth heritage, brick heritage and reinforced concrete heritage), the interaction of approaches of professionals from different fields of knowledge (architecture , engineering, history, biology, chemistry, physics, administration, arts, agronomy, geology and archeology, among others) and from different areas of activity (teaching, research, public management, conservation, restoration) resulted in a wide range of readings and contact with significant conservation propositions.

In this presentation, which is part of the BRAU 5 webinar under the coordination of Profa. Dr. Beatriz Bueno, we will deal with a particular trajectory of knowledge.