*Nosso Lar | Brasilia

The spiritual and utopian city

In the years 1944 and 1956, Brazil saw the creation of two city plans that introduced the role of spiritist culture on the one hand and modernist architecture on the other. The first of these city plans is Nosso Lar (‘Our Home’), a city situated within the spirit world that plays a central role in Brazil’s large spiritist movement. The second city plan is Brasília, the capital of Brazil, which was built in a desert area in the center of the country, and has played a key role in Brazil’s development into an ever growing, modern, industrialist country.

Although the metaphysical project of spiritism and the administrative, planned enterprise of modernist architecture  seem to be naturally in opposition to one another, the project nosso Lar, brasília argues that they show similarities to such an extent that it allows for an articulation of what could be considered a shared project of engineering society. The cityoverlay insinuates the parallels between both cities.

a project  and text by Jonas Staal

*projectrole: architectural designer 2d- 3d illustrations and video | reconstruction of both cities | 3d print maquette

status | exhibition Sao Paulo BR | Antwerp BE | Dublin IE | Modiva IT | Lisbon PT | Publication Nosso Lar Brasilia

up | schematic city overlay Brasilia ~ Nosso Lar

down | exhibition Sao Paulo BR | publication Nosso Lar Brasilia

*left: schematic city plan of Brasilia

*right *schematic city plan of Nosso Lar

The city structure derived from texts and sketches.

*Up: schematic city overlay Brasilia ~ Nosso Lar.