Funcionalismo e consciência:  situação do design industrial

Françoise Choay; Julia Santos Gollino

doi:10.18830/1679-09442023v16e48127

Authors

Françoise Choay Institut Français d'Urbanisme, Paris VIII
Julia Santos Gollino Universidade de Brasília; Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18830/1679-09442023v16e48127

Keywords:

Architecture, Art, Aesthetics, Industrial Design

Abstract

The article entitled “Functionalism and consciousness: situation of industrial design” [Fonctionnalisme et conscience: situation de l’industrial design], was written by the french philosopher and historian, Françoise Choay (1925–) and published in 1964, in the French philosophy journal Revue d'Esthétique, whose scientific and technical character fostered publications all over the world, alluding to the need for debate on several fronts. Being of a critical nature and having remained so far unpublished in Portuguese, this article is part of a set of contributions made by the author in the aforementioned journal, proving relevant as a source text for the present translation insofar as it traces the author's intellectual itinerary. In this article, Choay exposes the implications arising from industrial design, critically analyzing the reverberations of the modern industrialization process in the field of art and architecture. However, beyond the purpose of tracing the development of industrial aesthetics, the author turns to existential and discursive aspects, revealing her intention of claiming a semantic meaning for the notions of prefabrication. Thus, based on statements about standardization related to industrial design, the author problematizes the results of the implementation of “standards”, referring to the risk of such standards fostering cultural homogenization. Similar positions appear in two other articles, published in that same journal, “L’industrialisation et le bâtiment” (CHOAY, 1962) and “L’exposition du Bauhaus” (CHOAY, 1969), which are located in Choay's trajectory as a development of her critique of the tension established between the search for universalizing principles and the acknowledgment of cultural and environmental specificities. Both articles articulate the study of human expressions—art, architecture and city—through the duality semiology–anthropology, contributing to the clarification of the context in which and for which this article was produced, and consequently, constituting a body of reference for this translation project.

Author Biographies

Françoise Choay, Institut Français d'Urbanisme, Paris VIII

French historian, born in 1925, specialist in the historiography of urban and architectural forms. She has distinguished herself as a professor at the Institut Français d'Urbanisme, Paris VIII, as a tenured professor at Cornell University, and as a member of the High Commission for Historical Monuments. She studied philosophy and worked as an art critic, collaborating during the 1950s with the magazines L'Observateur, L'Œil, and Art de France, and directing the Paris section of Art International in the following decade. From the 1970s to the present, she has published books and articles that sparked innovative debates, in which she confronts inaugural texts on urban and architectural thinking, demonstrating her ability to reflect on various themes. She also directed the "Espacements" collection for Éditions du Seuil, received the Architecture Book Prize in 2007 for her work “Pour une Anthropologie de l'Espace” (2006), and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Lisbon in 2017, upon the proposal of the Faculdade de Arquitetura and the Instituto Superior Técnico, recognizing her significant contribution to the theory and criticism of architecture and urbanism. Among her recent publications, she co-edited, with Pierre Merlin, the “Dictionnaire de l'Urbanisme et de l'Aménagement” (1988).
Julia Santos Gollino, Universidade de Brasília; Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo

Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Uberlândia, she holds a master's degree in Theory and Criticism of Architecture from the University of Brasília, and a specialization degree from Escola da Cidade. Since 2020, she has been a member of the “Pragmatism and Aesthetics” Research Group, affiliated with the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Additionally, after working as a professor in the Architecture and Urbanism course at the University of Ribeirão Preto, she is a professor of Interior Design at the National Service for Commercial Learning (Senac). During her undergraduate studies, she was associated with the Research Center in Theory and History of Architecture and Urbanism and the Research Center in Language, dedicating herself to investigating the interactions between art and architecture both in specialized magazines and in the field of museography, with particular interest in the field of artistic and architectural aesthetics and its developments.

References

CHOAY, F. L'industrialisation et le bâtiment. Revue d'Esthétique. L’Architecture actuelle dans le monde. Paris: Vrin, XV/3-4, juil. - déc. 1962, pp. 279-291.

_________. Chronologie sommaire de la période 1850-1960. Principaux édifices élevés et publications importantes. Revue d’Esthétique. L’Architecture actuelle dans le monde. Paris : Vrin, XV/3-4, juil.- déc. 1962, pp. 361-367.

_________. Fonctionnalisme et conscience, situation de l'industrial design. Revue d'Esthétique. Art et Modernité. Paris : Vrin, XVII/3-4, juil.- déc. 1964, pp. 264-269.

_________. Vingt ans d'architecture. Revue d'Esthétique. Paris : SPDG, XX/5, 1968, pp. 376-387.

_________. L'exposition du Bauhaus. Revue d'Esthétique. Art et Modernité. Paris : Klincksieck, XXII/4, oct.- déc. 1969, pp. 317-319.

OUAHÈS, R. Chronique d’une mort annoncée : Essai d'interprétation de la théorie d'urbanisme de Françoise Choay, en regard du concept de "mort" appliqué à l'architecture et à la ville (Mémoire de Diplôme d'Études Approfondies). École d'Architecture Paris-Belleville - Université Paris VIII. Paris. 1999.

PEIXOTO, Priscilla Alves. A escrita da história como um processo: as práticas historiográficas de Françoise Choay. Oculum Ensaios, Campinas, v. 14, n. 1, p. 99-110, 2017. Disponível em: http://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/seer/index.php/oculum/article/view/3221. Acesso em: 10 abril 2022.

_________. Uma história do urbanismo em construção: as práticas historiográficas de Françoise Choay (1956-1971). Rio de Janeiro: Tese de Doutorado em Urbanismo, PROURB-FAU-UFRJ, 2018. Disponível em: https://sucupira.capes.gov.br/sucupira/public/consultas/coleta/trabalhoConclusao/viewTrabalhoConclusao.jsf?popup=true&id_trabalho=6904191. Acesso em: 21 março 2022.