Gustavo Capanema Palace
Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 1938 – 1944
Adequacy | 1955
Landscape architect: Roberto Burle Marx
Architects: Lúcio Costa, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Carlos Leão, Jorge Moreira, Ernani Vasconcellos, Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier
Artist (panels): Cândido Portinari
Reform | 1971 | 1988
Burle Marx Office
Landscape architect: Roberto Burle Marx
Associated Architects: Haruyoshi Ono and José Waldemar Tabacow
Federal listing
The building of the Ministry of Education and Health, currently known as Gustavo Capanema Palace, was designed in the 1940s, when Rio de Janeiro was the federal capital of Brazil. The building is recognised as an icon of Brazilian modern architecture, and its project was coordinated by Lúcio Costa. Invited by Costa after returning from Recife, Roberto Burle Marx was responsible for the landscaping of the pilotis area and the two gardens, on the terraces of the second and 16th pavements. In 1988, he carried out with his collaborators the latest revision and adequation in the implemented project, and in 2015 the gardens were recovered and revitalised.
Burle Marx presented his first proposal for the garden in 1938, following a drawing of Cartesian flowerbeds aligned with the architecture. Between 1942 and 1944, he developed a second proposal, using for the first time the curvilinear forms that would eventually characterise his style. In this project, Burle Marx also worked as an assistant for Candido Portinari, his teacher and friend, for the painting of panels of the second floor hall.
