The Modern Architecture of Curitiba - Elgson Ribeiro Gomes

Elgson Ribeiro Gomes was born in Florianópolis on November 16th, 1922. The family moved to Curitiba, in the effort of his mother to see her son graduate in a profession. During the first year of Civil Engineering at UFPR University in 1940, he start working for Suruga & Colli Contractors. In 1946, having already completed the course in civil engineering, and still not satisfied with his training, Elgson moved to Sao Paulo to devote himself to architecture, enrolling at the School of Architecture at the University Mackenzie. Elgson met Adolf Franz Heep at São Paulo Association of Fine Arts, where he sought to improve his drawing skills, before returning to architecture school, ultimately influencing his career. The collaboration between the two lasted for nearly ten years, from 1950 to 1959.

Souza Naves Building (1953).
The Souza Naves Building was a result of the partnership between Elgson Ribeiro Gomes and Adolf Heep. The project was done to serve the Institute for Pension and retirement benefits of Paraná (IPAS). The exchange of the iron frames to aluminum in 1981, provoked outrage by the architects of Curitiba and the interventions in 1995 decharacterized the volume of the entrance hall.

Itália Building (1962).
The Itália Building with its curved facade, allowed the best use of the rooms facing the street. As a result, the building earn its own personality in the urban landscape. In Itália Building project, the architect used the law to advance 1.2 meters over the alignment of the site.


Provedor André de Barros Building (1969).
The Provedor André de Barros is a building that stands out in the urban landscape of Curitiba. It is part of a set of apartment buildings where the architect has practically exhausted the proposed design of the inner area (30 to 600 square meters). The treatment that Elgson and Heep have done to the casings and sills of the balconies, allows us to draw a parallel between their apartment buildings and housing units in Marseille (1946) and Firminy-Vert (1960) of Le Corbusier.