A project by Cartography Studio
with Lissa Carmona, Etel
Directed by Luca de Santis
Words by Francesco Perrotta-Bosch
On paper Cartography Magazine Issue no.12 April 2025
Morumbi, São Paulo, 18 September 1952
Lina stated that she had set out to create a shelter to be protected from the rain and wind and, at the same time, a place that could be part of “what is poetic and ethical” in a storm.
She envisioned a space open to the surrounding wilderness. A building that would face “the ‘dangers’ without worrying about the usual ‘protections’”. And what were these usual protections? Thick walls, small windows, a closed house.
For Lina, providing a home’s inhabitants with privacy was tantamount to building a house that was “fearful of others”.
Protecting the building from the cycles of nature was also out of the question: as the architect summed up, “the house, in effect, has no outer protection”.
This reportage was made possible by the guidance of Lissa Carmona and the Etel team, who provided introductions and recommended persons to meet, sites to visit and books to read, and all those who kindly made time to speak with us for this edition.
We are grateful to Lorenzo Gemma, Francesco Perrotta-Bosch, Instituto and Acervo Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi, for the open conversations, the memories and research of a lifetime. They will sit with us for a long time.