A paisagem-escola de Roberto Burle Marx na cidade universitária, UFRJ: desafios para sua preservação

Abstract

This text aims to highlight the work of landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx on the University City Campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and to point out the challenges for its preservation, emphasizing its status as cultural heritage and its importance due to the exceptional situation of being located in a university education space. The work is part of a broader research project focused on the study of the values ​​and meanings of landscapes, and its methodology includes field research, interviews, and consultation of original documents. Burle Marx is one of the most important landscape architects of the 20th century, and his proposals for the university city are important for understanding the legacy of the Brazilian Modern Movement. The university city of the University of Brazil (today the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) is the oldest and largest Brazilian university campus, designed by Jorge Machado Moreira. On this campus, Burle Marx worked on the IPPMG (Instituto de Puericultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira) building in 1952, and on the FAU (Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo) building in 1960. These two landscape projects, although in a terrible state of conservation, represent an important moment in Burle Marx's work and raise important questions regarding the preservation of modernism in Brazil. How to preserve this heritage, considering its university context and the challenges and possibilities that this situation presents? The text initially presents the concept of landscape-school; then it presents Burle Marx's landscape projects for the University City, highlighting the projects' relationship with a space dedicated to university education. Then it presents the current situation, as well as the initiatives and efforts for its preservation. The work concludes by highlighting the main challenges for the preservation of this heritage and its management, emphasizing that the landscape projects of IPPMG and FAU are part of the erudite legacy of Burle Marx and the Modern Movement in Brazil, incorporating cultural, aesthetic and botanical values ​​that have internationally distinguished Brazilian professionals.