Brilliant Bo Bardi

When SESC Pompeia first opened in 1982, it immediately garnered praise and awards for its architecturally innovative and socially engaged programme. Located in an old working-class district of São Paulo, the derelict sheds of what was once a metal barrel factory, had been occupied informally by local people and it was exactly this type of spontaneous community activity that the architect and socialist Lina Bo Bardi sought to draw upon and preserve in the creation of what has become a model of mixed-use transformational architecture. The original industrial aesthetic of brick walls, pioneering concrete structure and saw tooth roof were restored and three cast in situ concrete towers were added. Exhibition space, a theatre, canteen, bar, sports facilities, analogue art workshops, and places to just hang out and read, it is one of the last places in this colossal city that offers free public courses. It invites comparisons with other converted industrial spaces like Glasgow’s Tramway, a former transport depot transformed into a Council run arts venue, and Marseille’s La Friche, an old tobacco factory once a mecca for hip hop and street art, but which is now a plaza of chic culture tourism. SESC Pompeia however is different and remains true to Bardi’s original mission to avoid the dead hand of bureaucratic mismanagement and commodified culture. After forty years it is still going strong. Long live SESC Pompeia!