Lina Bo Bardi

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Lore & Background

In 1942 she opened her own studio on Via Gesù, but wartime lack of work led her to take up illustration for newspapers and magazines such as Stile, Grazia, Belleza, Tempo, Vetrina and Illustrazione Italiana. Her office was destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1943. From 1944–45 she served as Deputy Director of Domus magazine. That event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945 she traveled around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document the destroyed country, a trip related to the magazine 'A' or political work, not a Domus commission. She co-founded the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan with Carlo Pagani and Bruno Zevi. She collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera. In 1946 she moved to Rome and married art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi. In October 1946 Bo Bardi and her husband traveled to South America. They found post-war Italy difficult, though there is no widely documented evidence of her armed resistance, and her husband had fascist ties. In Rio they were received by the IAB (Institute of Brazilian Architects). She and her husband co-founded the influential art magazine Habitat. In 1947 Assis Chateaubriand invited Pietro Maria Bardi to establish and run a Museum of Art in São Paulo. Bo Bardi designed the conversion of several floors of a building into the museum, and also designed new headquarters for the Diários Associados and jewelry using Brazilian gemstones. She became a naturalized Brazilian citizen in 1951, the same year she completed her first built work, her own "Glass House" in Morumbi. In 1955 she became a lecturer for the Architecture and Urbanism Faculty at the University of São Paulo. In 1959 she collaborated with theater director Martim Gonçalves to create the exhibition Bahia in Ibirapuera. In 1977 she designed the SESC Pompéia Factory, which she called a "leisure center" because she felt the word culture was too weighty. The des

Reader's Guide

Lina Bo Bardi's significance lies in her integration of modernist principles with Brazilian vernacular design, promoting architecture's social and cultural potential. Her work, including the Glass House, MASP, and SESC Pompéia, reflects a commitment to human-centered spaces and the use of local materials and labor. Despite facing marginalization as a foreign woman in Brazil, she left a lasting impact on Brazilian architecture and design. Her legacy has grown since 2008, with renewed interest in her furniture, jewelry, and exhibitions, underscoring her influence on contemporary design thinking.

Did You Know?

• Lina Bo Bardi graduated from the Rome College of Architecture at age 25 with a final piece titled 'The Maternity and Infancy Care Centre.'
• Her architectural office on Via Gesù was destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1943.
• She served as Deputy Dire