Although little known, the Aeronautics Technical Center (CTA, current Department of Aerospace Science and Technology - DCTA) in São José dos Campos can be considered one of the largest and most relevant works by architect Oscar Niemeyer before Brasilia. It is his first project executed in São Paulo.
Conceived by Lieutenant Colonel Casimiro Montenegro Filho, the project was born out of an architecture competition held in 1947 by the Organizing Committee of the Technical Aeronautics Center (COCTA) after defining its location. It was based on reports produced with the advice of Professor Richard Smith, principal of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
For the closed competition, defined by the rules of the Institute of Architects of Brazil, five offices were nominated by the Ministry of Aeronautics: Oscar Niemeyer Soares Filho, Marcelo Roberto, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Benedicto de Barros and the Brazilian Engineering Company. The notice, prepared by the Aeronautics Engineering Board (through the architect Hélio de Oliveira Gonçalves) and based on Smith's report, was quite detailed. Anteprojeto B, by Oscar Niemeyer, was the winner. It was noted for its street layout, for keeping the Rio-São Paulo road where it was, for the positioning of the recreational area that connects CTA to the city and for several building projects considered to be the ones that best met the requirements.
When the result was announced, Niemeyer was in the United States to join the international group of architects in charge of developing the UN headquarters project. An initial refusal of his visa due to his affiliation with the Brazilian Communist Party had caused negative repercussions with the Brazilian Government, so in March 1947, President Eurico Gaspar Dutra interceded against Niemeyer's hiring. Therefore, the first private bulletin issued by the CTA removed him from the project. Even filing an appeal with the Ministry of Aeronautics, it was only through the intervention of Casimiro Montenegro that the architect managed to remain connected to the execution of the project, although indirectly represented by his colleagues Fernando Saturnino de Britto and Rosendo Mourão.
Buildings
The project underwent several modifications before the construction phase. The final layout of the Presidente Dutra highway forced the adequacy of the urban planning project, and the residential blocks, mostly planned with three floors on stilts, were revised with a lower height due to the verification of poor soil conditions.
Sixteen housing blocks were built in five basic typologies, each with some subtle differences.
Blocks H10 (two units), H18 (three units) and H21 (one unit) are characterized by two-story semi-detached apartments, forming a long horizontal volume with a trapezoidal section. The sloping façade, characteristic of his architecture in that period, became a standard throughout the project, partially protected by mashrabiya, referring to colonial architecture (an influence of Lucio Costa). The patios of ground floor units at the back are defined by oblique walls made of bricks laid to take advantage of their holes. Sculptural helical stairs give access to the upper units, which are enclosed in two types of hollow elements and brise-soleils.
Following the same volumetric treatment, blocks H20 (two units) and H22 (one unit) contain two-story apartments with double-height living rooms. The entrance façade stands out for its hollow concrete walls and its gardens covered by pergolas.
The H19 blocks (two units) are a larger variation of the H20/H22, with balconies protected by brise-soleils and access marked by a marquee supported by V-shaped metal pillars. Access is via a side door facing a garden shared by two units under a wooden enclosure and next to a wall covered in solid ceramic bricks. The rooms, with double-height ceilings, have curved concrete lighting molding.
The largest apartments compose the two units of the H17 blocks, with a richer spatiality. Locating the rooms on stilts that define balconies in front of double-height rooms, these were reserved for higher-ranking officers.
Finally, three units of the H8 blocks were dedicated to students from the Professional School. With a dynamic profile, its access is through an extensive veranda whose roof rests on V-shaped concrete pillars. They were not executed according to the drawings and, in 1957, they were enlarged, impairing the room's lighting and ventilation and changing the gables' profile.
The professional school, which houses the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), is a series of four buildings. The largest one is characterized by a long administrative block on stilts covered in sheds (hidden by a high ledge), to which the classrooms connect perpendicularly. While the circulation of the first one is open like a veranda, the access corridors to the rooms take advantage of the solar orientation and are protected by vertical reinforced concrete brise-soleils painted in blue that also involve helical stairs.
The building of the library and auditorium has two volumetrical functions. The first was developed on two floors (one semi-underground), covered by five combined vaults.
At the back, there are two laboratories: the structures laboratory, made with curved concrete porticoes, announces a preliminary version of the Bienal building in Ibirapuera and the demolished Duchen factory in Guarulhos. The machinery and tools laboratory is located on a floor covered by sheds.
In addition to these, the buildings for the restaurant, wind tunnel, engine laboratory and even a chapel were built based on Oscar Niemeyer's designs. However, with his progressive distancing from the project, which took effect in 1958 due to the busyness associated with Brasília, they were executed without the architect’s attentive look: the restaurant was in charge of the CTA Infrastructure Team, which took advantage of the vaulted solution; the wind tunnel, with its curved supports, as well as the engine laboratory (the entrance to which is marked by the architect's typical marquise) were built after major disagreements between Niemeyer and COCTA; and the chapel, a triangular variation of the famous Pampulha church built from an adaptation of the project by Rosendo Mourão, lacking some original structural qualities.
Technical Data
- Name: Aeronautics Technical Center, current Department of Aerospace Science and Technology.
- Authors: Oscar Niemeyer, Fernando Saturnino de Britto, Rosendo Mourão
- Start year: 1947
- Conclusion year: 1956
- Address: 50 Marechal-do-Ar Eduardo Gomes Square - Vila das Acácias, São José dos Campos - SP, 12245-021
Bibliography
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- FIGUEIREDO, Rolando. A manutenção do ITA de Oscar Niemeyer. Sobre a falsa perenidade do que é simples. In: Drops, ano 19, no. 138.03. Vitruvius: São Paulo, mar. 2019. Disponível em: https://vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/drops/19.138/7290 (accessed 11/07/2021).
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- NIEMAYER (sic), Oscar. Centro Técnico de Aeronáutica. São José dos Campos – estado de S. Paulo – 1947. In: Arquitetura Contemporânea no Brasil n. 2. Gertum Carneiro: Rio de Janeiro, 1948.
- O CENTRO Técnico de Aeronáutica de São José dos Campos. In: Arquitetura e Engenharia v.1, n.5, p. 37. Belo Horizonte, set./out. 1947.
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