Pre-modern mimesis underlying the Descriptive Memorial of the Brasilia Project

Abstract

Through this article, we intend to discuss the Brasilia Pilot Plan project, elaborated by Lúcio Costa, in order to understand it beyond modern urban paradigms, as a palimpsest of older urban forms, which persevered under the silhouette of these most recent references. In this regard, we are not particularly interested in whether the adoption of certain forms was conscious and intentional from the initial guidelines or whether they intuitively arose throughout the design process (since it is not possible to evaluate the deliberations of Lúcio Costa’s psychological intimacy), but only if they share space organizations already experimented with in traditional models of cities. The simple fact that certain urban forms survive in the face of modernity imperatives seems to be a symptom of their latent vigor. Analyzing Brasília from this perspective, therefore, restores the importance of mimesis as a force that connects citizens and history to urban design. In this sense, we point to issues of quite different scales, ranging from the mystique of the site of the capital, through the general lines that determined the silhouette of the set (two orthogonally crossed axes), to specific issues regarding the fortified conformation of the ministerial esplanade, and even of the dimensioning of the residential sectors. Although these notes are presented as a hypothesis, they appear in the light of a literature review and comparative methodology, enabling a desired expansion of the discussion.