REGIONAL MODERNISM OR MODERN REGIONALISM? EDUARDO NEIRA ALVA'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF HOSING IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

This article is the result of a broader research that aims to understand and reveal the processes of diffusion of the modern movement's ideology in Latin America. In this context, the action and professional contribution of the architect Eduardo Neira Alva (1924- 2005) is virtually ignored, even though he assumed positions in the Latin American context linked to the IDB and ECLAC. Still as a student, Neira participated in the formation of the Agrupación Espacio, a vanguardist collective that defended the consolidation of the modern movement in Peru through the evaluation of the effort of architects like Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Lucio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer, among others. Gradually, housing become a central issue amongst his concerns, especially after assuming the post of Head of Urbanism at the Ministry of Public Works. His interest for it took an unexpected turn after his trip to Venezuela, where he was one of the founders of the Centro de Estudios del Desarrollo (CENDES), institution in which he developed several projects and studies regarding social housing in tropical climates. Reflection on this unknown chapter in the work and thought of Eduardo Neira Alva, marked by tensions caused by the limits between modernism and regionalism, is the objective of this paper.