Arquitetura e poder: desigualdades de gênero, classe e raça nos apartamentos de Curitiba (1927-1972)

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze the architectural floor plans of apartments in Curitiba, understanding them as cultural artifacts that both reflect and shape social dynamics, highlighting how their spatial organization embodies and acts as an agent in constructing power structures based on gender, race, and class. The focus is on apartments built in Curitiba’s central region, where the verticalization process began with the construction of the Palácio Avenida in 1927 and significantly declined in 1972, when this area ceased to be the main focus of the city’s vertical growth. Within this scope, original floor plans approved by the city hall of 21 buildings, totaling 89 apartments, were analyzed alongside two additional data sources: the building codes in force during each period, representing state regulatory power, and reports and advertisements from the Gazeta do Povo newspaper, reflecting the influence of the real estate market and civil society. The study primarily focuses on the service area, particularly the “maid’s quarters,” spaces that, in Brazil, reveal social inequalities as they represent the residence of a person within another’s household. The research challenges the apparent neutrality of these spaces, examining their relationship with urban and architectural transformations. Additionally, it investigates the urban zoning of the period and how it displaced socially marginalized groups to the city’s outskirts4a logic mirrored in the location of domestic workers’ quarters. Among other aspects, the research explores the strategies employed to approve these spaces, often bypassing minimum legal requirements.