Sérgio Ferro is the son of Armando Simone Pereira and Beatriz Ferro Pereira.[5]
In 1962, Sérgio Ferro graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (FAUUSP). Shortly after, he was invited by Professor João Batista Vilanova Artigas to join the teaching staff as a teaching assistant in the Art History course at the same university. Until 1970, he taught plastic composition, art history, and aesthetics at various art and architecture schools and colleges in the cities of Santos, São Paulo, and Brasília.[4][6]
1962-1968 – Escola de Formação Superior de Desenho
1962-1970 – Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo (FAUUSP)
1969-1970 – Architecture Course, University of Brasília
1972-2003 – École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture, Grenoble
1982 – Founded the Dessin/Chantier [Drawing/Construction] laboratory, which he directed until 1997.
Throughout his career, Sérgio Ferro observed and intervened in the spaces of civil construction, developing a critique of the production of visual arts and architecture based on the construction process and its agents: the construction site, technologies, materials, and the builder.
In the 1960s, together with Rodrigo Lefèvre and Flávio Império, Sérgio Ferro co-founded the group called Arquitetura Nova (New Architecture) to understand the practice of architecture as a productive chain, including the social role of the architect and the production relations at the construction site. They proposed public housing policies with social housing projects, developing designs based on what they called the "poetics of the economy": simple experiences, optimizing procedures to increase productivity and access to housing. They were responsible for formulating a critique, based on the Marxist perspective of surplus value, of the institutionalized architectural production in Brazil in general and, specifically, as a theoretical counterpoint to the work and school of their former mentor, Professor Vilanova Artigas.
Every architectural object is the result of the process of capital valorization. [...] The architectural object, like the shovel or the weapon, is manufactured, circulated, and consumed primarily as a commodity.
— Sérgio Ferro
Sérgio Ferro continues to this day his critical reflection on issues related to architectural production, indicating that it reflects the economic relations of each era.[8][9][10]
I am against the term Anthropocene. What is driving the world to final disaster is capital. To prove this, just look at the present. According to those who understand the issue, we no longer have time to avoid unimaginable climate disasters.
— Sérgio Ferro
Project TF/TK
Between 2020 and 2024, he actively participated in the international project "Translating Ferro / Transforming Knowledge into Architecture, Design, and Work for a New Field of Production Studies," developed through a Brazil/UK collaboration, funded by FAPESP (Brazil) and AHRC (UK). The project sought to promote the consolidation of a new field of Production Studies, structured by Sérgio Ferro's work, which is considered "a fundamental thinker for the field of studies and practices of architectural production, from both a critical and emancipatory perspective."[11]
25 Affiliated Researchers participated in the project, initially focusing on translating selected works of Sérgio Ferro from Portuguese to English and debating them in reading groups in both English and Portuguese. This led to the development of various studies that will be published as booklets and books.[11]
Additionally, part of Sérgio Ferro's collection of architecture, theory, and artistic practice is being organized, cleaned, cataloged, digitized, stored, and made available online, including projects and works from Arquitetura Nova (in partnership with FAU-USP). Much of this collection was donated by Sérgio Ferro to the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (IAU-USP), located in São Carlos, São Paulo.[11]
Military Dictatorship and Exile
During the military dictatorship, Sérgio Ferro, along with his Arquitetura Nova colleagues, established connections with the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), which was opposed to armed struggle and guerrilla warfare against the dictatorial regime as a means of achieving a socialist revolution in the country. He later broke with the PCB and joined the Aliança Libertadora Nacional (National Liberation Alliance), led by Carlos Marighella.[6][12]
Due to his political activism and the regime’s persecution, Sérgio Ferro was imprisoned for a year. He was dismissed from the University of São Paulo and, in 1972, went into exile in France, settling in Grenoble.[4][5][6]
Unable to practice as an architect in France, he dedicated himself to artistic activity and teaching in arts and architecture courses. Between 1972 and 1989, he taught at the University of Grenoble. During this period, he created frescoes at Villeneuve (1975),[13] École Buttes (1981), and École Joseph Vallier (1983). His painting is characterized by unfinished images, clear references to Michelangelo and Leonardo, mixed with sketches and handwritten texts.[14]
Awards and Recognitions
1965 - Issue 319 of Acrópole magazine was dedicated to Arquitetura Nova.[5]
1970 - Special Commissioner for the São Paulo Biennial Foundation in Venice.[5]
1987 - Best Painter Award, São Paulo Association of Art Critics.[4]
2012 - Title of Honorary Citizen of Paraná, from the Legislative Assembly of Paraná.[15]
2021 - His name was given to the "Escola Livre Espaço Sérgio Ferro" of the Cooperativa Braço Forte.[16]
ARANTES, Pedro Fiori; Arquitetura Nova - Sérgio Ferro, Flávio Império, and Rodrigo Lefèvre. From Artigas to Self-Managed Construction Groups. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2002. ISBN8573262516
KOURY, Ana Paula; Arquitetura Nova - Flávio Império, Rodrigo Lefèvre, Sérgio Ferro. São Paulo: Romano Guerra Editora / Edusp / Fapesp, 2004. ISBN8531407834
