Paulo Mendes da Rocha, who was the most Brazilian of international architects, died at dawn on Sunday (23), at the age of 92. He had lung cancer and was hospitalized in São Paulo. His son, Pedro Mendes da Rocha, confirmed the death.
Although he had been active as an architect since 1955, the world didn't discover him until four decades later, when images from the Pinacoteca do Estado and MuBE were published in foreign magazines.
Since then, the robust ensemble that he had already built and the works that he was to do began to attract the attention of critics. Recognitions and recognitions followed; research on his work started to emerge in Europe in the 2000s.
Until that moment, in 1995, when he was 67 years old, Paulo Mendes - so, for the abbreviated form, if the architects were special to him—did not have works built abroad.
It had, it is, the Brazilian pavilion at the Universal Exhibition in Osaka in 1970. However, demolished at the end of the event, the building remained in the memory of scholars only.
The geographically restricted character of his work did not prevent him from receiving all the major architectural awards in the world.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon