Design and the Building Site and Complementary Essays

Dating from the 1970s, ?Design and the Building Site? is Sérgio Ferro?s most influential theoretical work. Ferro had fled the military dictatorship that took power in Brazil in 1964 and which arrested him in 1970 for his involvement in active resistance. Written just after his arrival in France, the essay reflects much of what he left behind: encounters with Brasilia?s harsh construction sites; experiences with the collective Arquitetura Nova; work on the editorial committee of the journal Teoria e Prática; and the year Ferro spent in prison, befriending construction workers and reading Freud. The text constitutes a critique of architectural production under capitalism, surveying the political economy of architecture and its influence on contemporary practice. Half a century after its first publication, and in the face of capitalism?s greatest crisis, it has never offered such a pressingly relevant call for action.This edition contextualises and expands on Ferro?s essay with earlier and later texts that clarify both the contextual and theoretical elements at play in its argument, plus a preface written by Ferro especially for this first English-language edition. Together, these texts constitute a deeper exploration of the theory introduced in Architecture from Below: An Anthology, and offer a broad range of challenging and vital ideas to builders, thinkers, and architects today.Edited by Silke Kapp and Mariana Moura and translated by Ellen Heyward and Ana Naomi de Sousa.