Architecture and modernity at the Federal Industrial Schools: the cases of Belo Horizonte [state of Minas Gerais] and Cuiaba [state of Mato Grosso], Brazil

Abstract

The Federal Industrial Schools, which constitute the current Federal Institutes of Education, emerged from the creation of the Schools of Apprentice Craftsmen created in 1909, with the objective of training needy young people in nineteen federative units of Brazil. In the 1930s, with the advent of the Estado Novo, industrialization provoked a process of intense modernization and urbanization of capitals. Since then, these schools have aligned themselves with political and economic transformations, replacing the teaching of crafts with new specializations, undergoing changes in their nomenclature and social functions and, consequently, in their physical structures. The present article intends to analyze the architectural projects of the industrial schools of Belo Horizonte and Cuiabá, idealized in the administration of President Getúlio Vargas, whose solutions adopted concepts of modernity, in addition to introducing a typological standardization, translated into their programs of needs, spatial configurations and systems. constructive. The methodology adopted in the work has a qualitative character, based on the research of secondary (books and articles) and primary sources, represented in drawings, iconographic records and official data. Subsequently, the data were systematized, performing a critical analysis of this documentation, making it possible to reveal recurrences in the typology of industrial schools and also identifying the presence of similarities and divergences between the projects. In this way, the work aims to contribute to the valorization and preservation of the memory of this architectural collection.