The debate about modern architecture in Brazil was decisive for urban awareness in Rio de Janeiro to mature, resulting in its first master plan, the Plano Agache. The choice of Alfred Agache to develop the city's remodeling involved many issues, ranging from politics to aesthetics. The context was the late 1920s, when the tension surrounding the possibility of a world war and American participation in the general guidelines for the development of capitalism contributed to modernism assuming a relevant position in urban planning. Rationality then became the determining element in urban changes.
Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of an adult man. He is wearing a suit with a vest and a bow tie. His head is slightly tilted forward, and he wears glasses with a rectangular frame. On the front of his suit, there is a circular badge with a coat of arms and the text "Memórias do Plano Agache."Donald Alfred Agache. Photo from the General Consulate of Brazil in Paris, 1939 - Wikimedia Commons.
Rio de Janeiro, as the country's capital, welcomed these debates and opinions were divided. There was the possibility of choosing between the boldness and modernist radicalism of Le Corbusier or the well-behaved modernism of Agache, who valued urban space as capital and commodity through the verticalization process, using the novelty of the "skyscraper." Agache was chosen.
The Agache Plan had guidelines distinct from those that had until then driven the spatial changes, as it set out the strategy for the city's entry into modernist aesthetics, which had as its perspective the style
art deco
The new plan was not unanimously supported, and there was pressure from the Clube de Engenharia, which criticized the choice of foreign engineers.
The advance of real estate capital resulted in the occupation of the southern waterfront, giving rise to the differentiation between the south zone and the north zone. Some neighborhoods abandoned their aristocratic features to receive new factory facilities, such as Tijuca and Vila Isabel.
In the wake of this development, there was an increase in state bureaucracy and the expansion of services in the capital city, as part of its process of presenting itself as a modernized and cosmopolitan space.
The Revolution of 1930 opened the way for the hegemony of international financial capital, and the city, which by the early 20th century already had more than 800,000 inhabitants, called for changes in order to adapt to this new context.
The Passos Reform had torn through the city and marked out the lines of force of its development. Central Avenue, later Rio Branco Avenue, was the first diagonal to link two radials: Beira-Mar Avenue, toward the South Zone, and Rodrigues Alves Avenue, toward the North Zone, reinforcing the country's export-driven character, since this circuit of avenues emphasized the city's new port.
Image description: This is a black-and-white aerial photograph showing an extensive urban area. From left to right, we see a series of industrial buildings with flat roofs, possibly factories or warehouses. In the center, there is a large railway that cuts through the image vertically, with several parallel tracks. On the right, we find residential and commercial areas, with lower buildings and green spaces. In the background, there are more buildings and green areas, suggesting population and industrial growth.Aerial view of av. Rodrigues Alves, Leopoldina area -Centro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Photograph by Jorge Kfuri - Instituto Moreira Salles.
The most important changes, however, occurred in the 1920s, during Carlos Sampaio's administration at the city hall, who, focused on the city's real estate growth, took part in the most discussed and necessary action for the development of the Agache Plan, some years later: the demolition of Morro do Castelo. The controversy surrounding the demolition placed, on one side, those who defended the leveling of the city's hills as a condition for improving its sanitation, and, on the other, those who upheld the city's historical traditions and saw in Morro do Castelo the element of memory of its founding.
Image description: This is an old black-and-white photograph showing a scene of wreckage and ruins. On the left side, we see a historic building partially torn down, with pieces of roofing and fallen structures. In the center, there is an area of collapsed earth, revealing more wreckage and rubble. On the right, further in the distance, stand buildings in ruins, with broken walls and destroyed roofs. In the foreground, we see house rooftops with ornamental architectural details. At the bottom of the image, there is an inscription dated "9 de junho de 1904" and located in "Rio de Janeiro."Total demolition of Morro do Castelo. Among the rubble, the ruins of the Church of São Sebastião can be seen. Augusto Malta, 10/14/1922. Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Instituto Moreira Salles.
The demolition of Morro do Castelo created a new space, needed for holding the great event celebrating the Centenary of Brazil's Independence in 1922, in addition to freeing up a large area for real estate speculation. The earth from the leveling filled in a huge area of Guanabara Bay, between Santa Luzia beach and Russel beach, where the great pavilions of the International Exposition of the Independence Centenary were built.
Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of an urban landscape overlooking a river. On the left side, there is an architectural structure with a tower and ornamental details. In the background, there are buildings with sloped roofs and domes. The landscape includes mountains on the horizon. In the foreground, there is a bridge with decorative elements and a vessel floating on the river. On the right, part of a building with a tiled roof is visible.Partial view of the pavilions of the International Exposition of the Centenary of Brazil's Independence. Photograph by Augusto Malta, 1922. Esplanada do Castelo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Instituto Moreira Salles.
The presence of a man from São Paulo's political scene at the city hall, who did not know the history of the city of Rio, helps explain the choice of Alfred Agache, in 1926. Antônio Prado Júnior, whose experience in public administration was limited to running a football club in SP (Atlético Clube Paulistano), was a typical representative of the oligarchies. This paradoxical experience at the city hall stemmed from the absence of elections for the office of mayor, which was a direct appointment by the President of the Republic, and, at that time, the goal of remodeling the city of Rio de Janeiro was to develop the infrastructure and beautification of the Center, in order to broaden the reception of foreign investments in the capital. This strategy excluded the leading role of the popular classes from the plan, but, at the same time, it aimed to develop prospects that could, in the medium term, lead the middle sectors, once incorporated into the remodeling, to start supporting the State's policies. With that support, order would be restored, isolating popular interests.
As a consequence of this situation, Antônio Prado Júnior chose to hire an internationally renowned French urban planner, who possessed the necessary qualities to combine the European city model with the political renewal that was being pursued, making room for the urban bourgeoisie, still fascinated by French aesthetics. Alfred Agache then took charge of the city's first master plan, between 1926 and 1930, which emphasized remodeling conceived as a rational and functional adaptation to the interests of financial capital, and beautification as a mechanism for revitalizing the nation's strength and fostering the development of national sentiment.
The foundation of the Agache Plan was the renovation of the physical-territorial dimension, not the preparation of the city for development. It was a targeted intervention, meant to be limited to the Center, the place par excellence for financial dealings. To achieve this, it would be necessary to reallocate values, improving the buildings, the layout of the streets, and traffic flow, speeding up movement without congestion. The visual aspect was relevant to Agache, which reveals his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, represented by the emphasis on the combination of monumentality and academicism. However, in the Rio plan, what stands out most is the adaptation of academicism to modernist functionality and objectivity. This facet reveals an affinity between Agache and the American urbanism of the Chicago School, which encouraged the construction of skyscrapers, bringing him closer to the
City Beautiful Movement,
architectural and urban movement that flourished in the late 19th century in the United States, with the aim of beautifying cities
through the great monuments.
Image description: The image is an illustration of a map of Rio de Janeiro, showing an aerial view of the monumental center and the business and exchange districts. The spatial layout begins with green areas and streets in shades of green and yellow, representing parks and urban roads. Moving to the right, denser buildings appear, indicating commercial and residential areas. In the lower right corner, there is a highlighted area with explanatory text about the map. The map features vibrant colors, with green and yellow predominating.“Aerial perspective of the monumental center and the exchange and business districts" (p.149). Image from the book Cidade do Rio de Janeiro: extensão-remodelação-embellezamento. Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro, 1930. Biblioteca Nacional.
However, despite Agache's openness to modernist innovations, his conception of the city was still shaped by viewing it as a living organism, which would be the metaphor for human life itself, in which the functioning of the city would be represented by the body's metabolism. Thus, the squares, avenues, and gardens would be the lungs of the city, its aerobic system. The streets would be like the veins of the human body and would be part of the circulatory system, whose function would be to carry life to the heart of the city: Downtown. Finally, the sewers would be the digestive system. This structural-functionalist mechanism was meant to be based on the proper functioning of each part that makes up the overall system, achieving the goal of harmony between the parts and the whole. Anomie or dysfunction in the system would generate "illnesses" in the city.
Regarding favelas, Agache considered them satellite cities of spontaneous formation, made up of a variable population averse to hygiene, which should be civilized, living in public housing to be built. The ordering of Rio would presuppose the combination of urban legislation and zoning, that is, the assignment of functions to each space, with the aim of altering urban culture through changes in social relations and making the city an agent of transformation of habits and customs, which would result in a modern city. With this naturalization, Rio and its life would revolve around its political-administrative function as capital and its economic function as port and market.
With the construction of the Esplanada do Castelo, the new streets that cut across Rio Branco ended up renewing Pereira Passos's work. Agache's remodeling, concentrated in the Centro and open toward the south zone, confirmed what already functioned as a lived experience of differences in Rio's daily life. Avenida 13 de Maio, the Tabuleiro da Baiana, and Largo da Carioca articulated the circulation system for the south zone, while Praça Tiradentes and Largo de São Francisco did the same for the north zone. Even before Avenida Presidente Vargas, Rio Branco was already divided between south and north. The popular dimension of the entertainment at Praça Tiradentes contrasted with the refinement of the movie theaters of Cinelândia. Alfred Agache designed the bourgeois city, giving it a distinctive center: Cinelândia, the Brazilian Broadway.
Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving. It shows an idealized perspective of Castello Square, designed by Professor Agache. From left to right, we see a group of tall, symmetrical buildings with numerous windows and architectural details. In the center stands a large, centrally positioned building with lower side towers. On the right, other similar buildings complete the composition. In the background, curved lines represent the horizon. At the bottom of the image, there is an inscription that reads: "Fig. 16. - A perspective of Castello Square as idealized by Professor Agache."Drawing of Alfred Agache's project for Praça do Castelo. - Image from the book Cidade do Rio de Janeiro: extensão-remodelação-embellezamento. Rio de Janeiro City Hall, 1930. Biblioteca Nacional.
