GRADED SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE IN PARANÁ AND IN RIO GRANDE DO SUL: THE PLURALITY OF PRIMARY SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT (1903-1928)

ABSTRACT

This paper makes a comparison between the architecture of public schools from two capital cities of South Brazil, in the first three decades of the 20th century. It aims at problematizing points of intersection between its organization and disposition, considering the complexity of its space and symbolic elements that were adopted in that historical period, especially its relations with the urban layout of that time. The documentary corpus explored in our analysis covers sources such as: governmental reports, photographs, blueprints and architectural projects of the analyzed school buildings. We highlight that international influence was very relevant in this process, especially concerning the implementation of graded schools and the hygienical aspects; its location and visuality in both of the capitals; the social group which would attend these schools; and the necessity of alfabetization of a larger number of children. We also emphasize that the analyzed corpus enables the understanding of a semiology of republican, architectural school spaces in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná.

Keywords:
history of education; school architecture; graded school