The IDORT and the economic dwelling: the diffusion of international experiences (1932-1960)

Abstract

It deals with the role and importance achieved by the Institute for Rational Organization of Labor (IDORT), founded in São Paulo in 1931, in the dissemination of notions of rationality and efficiency in housing between brazilian groups of technicians and entrepreneurs. Highlights the IDORT´s efforts in search inspiration and synchrony with international debates and achievements, assuming the role as instrument for the dissemination of these experiences and reflection about them. Investigates the different approaches by which the housing subject appears in the review on a group of articles relating to international experiences in urban planning, architectural design, interior layout, standardization of materials and building components, organization of housework, improving building´s infrastructure, State action and strategies for financing the construction. It shows how this ensemble of articles compose a comprehensive view of the issue of the search for rationalization and efficiency in housing, addressing actions and discussions from different perspectives in terms of scale of intervention in space, processes and agents involved. Taking into account the scope of the approach of the dwelling by IDORT´s periodic and the influence of its readers in business, technical and administrative groups, the article intends to show that the agency and its official publication had an important role during the period discussed in the course of the debates and achievements in economic housing in Brazil.