The modernity of the Ford factory in Brazil

Abstract

There were countless exchanges between Brazil and the United States in Brazilian modernity in the 20th century, often neglected in detriment of those that occurred with the European continent, and in this paper we will try to give space and seek their understanding. Demonstrating that other fronts of dialogue were consolidated, the United States played an essential role when modern Brazilian architecture began, in the 1920s. The first Ford plant in Brazil, designed by the American architect Albert Kahn in São Paulo in 1921 is one of those precursor buildings constructed with a modern plastic language and using reinforced concrete and large glass panels. However, despite its relevance, it is a topic rarely addressed by historiography. The collection, analysis and dissemination of this unprecedented material, composed of architectural drawings, available in the archives of the Albert Kahn Associates, constitutes a contribution to the history of Brazilian architecture, something that may determine the change in paradigms regarding industrial architecture and its importance as an inseparable part of the modern movement, giving the factory its due importance as an object both technically and formally innovative.