Between the origin and the degradation:: the first rehabilitation of the building of the São Paulo Art Museum

Abstract

A large part of the attention given to the MASP – the São Paulo Art Museum – is centered on its architecture. This is not only because it is an unusual building, but also because of some crucial problems the structure has encountered. Chief among these is the issue of waterproofing the exterior, which arose immediately following the completion of its construction in 1968. This particular dilemma was only solved in the 1980s, after a series of attempts, in the midst of other impediments. We’ll see how a prosaic situation gained the dimension of a disaster, impairing not only the utility of the building, but also the image of the institution.