THE PIN–UP QUOTE: PAULO MENDES DA ROCHA

Well, you know, time has its fractures — it’s always been like that. History tends to happen in a non-continuous way, and so it has been with all these historical events that have happened in Brazil. In a sense, Brazil doesn’t exist, and neither does any other nation state. It’s just an ideological construct. For me, architecture is less the expression of state power; it is a human desire, tied to the mind of the human race.

Taken from an interview by Felix Burrichter in PIN–UP 14, Spring Summer 2013.

The full version of this interview can also be read in PIN–UP Interviews, published by Powerhouse Books.

Portrait by Adrian Gaut.