Theoretical position of the study

The perspective adopted for this text came from the historiographic approach connected to the school culture (^{JULIA, 2001}; ^{VIÑAO FRAGO, 1995}). In their studies about school as a place, Viñao Frago and Escolano (2001, p. 69) point out the tendency to assign a given space for teaching, a place “[...] thought of, designed, built and utilized exclusively for this purpose”. For ^{Silva, F. (2006}), the category of school space is strongly associated with the idea of architecture as a program in which space, besides its materiality, expresses and reflects given discourses. It is thus perceived that the school culture permeates different actions of everyday school life.

In this sense, an interesting articulation is performed by some scholars (^{BENCOSTTA, 2001}; ^{FARIA FILHO; VIDAL, 2000}; ^{SILVA, J., 2004}; ^{VEIGA, 2002}) between the school and urban cultures, with school times and spaces as guiding lines of the investigation. However, other researchers (FARIA FILHO; VAGO, 2001; FARIA FILHO; VIDAL, 2000; ^{SOUZA, 1998}) seek to shed a light on aspects of the relations between school spaces and times with other intrinsic aspects of the school experience and, at the same time, articulate them with the broader social ones (times and spaces).

On appropriating the studies by ^{Certeau (1996}) about narrative routes and structures, in the sphere of discussions regarding school institutions, their buildings and spaces, ^{Werle et al. (2007}, p. 151), see Institutional History as a dimensioned space, in which “[...] the different actors, the multiple policies, the institutionalized powers elaborate their routes”. These are approximations that promote broad looks on the matter of school culture, which means a methodological and analytical refinement of the research studies at the same time as it strengthens the dialogue with historiography and other fields (^{FARIA FILHO et al., 2004}).

Further on this subject, the remark by Souza-Chaloba (2019, p. 24) since “[...] it is worth mentioning the contribution of the studies on grupos escolares (school groups) to further the discussion on the contribution of the circulation and appropriation of the Escola Nova in Brazil”. In this sense, it is in our interest, as we include architecture in this dialogue, to permeate research within the spheres of history of education and architecture, contributing to the consolidation of a historiographic culture in both.

Discursive enunciations and architectural proposals

The Escola Nova movement arose at the end of the 19^th century in Europe, as the result of discontent with the pedagogical practices of the Traditional School, with major reflections on education worldwide. The movement became outstanding in Brazil in the 1920s, shaken by the events in the cultural milieu, especially the Semana de Arte Moderna (Week of Modern Art), which took place in São Paulo (^{FERNANDES, 2006}). In education, major representatives of a legion that included personalities in education, sociology, psychology and philosophy, studied, wrote and debated the topic of school renovation, ideals that had intense repercussions on architecture and urbanism.

In Rio de Janeiro at the end of the Twenties, in the then capital of the Republic of Brazil, Fernando de Azevedo led a profound reform in education. With the Revolution of 1930, Getúlio Vargas took power, beginning a period of political centralization, with education as a national priority that began to be utilized “[...] as one of the vehicles to mold a collective national identity, as well as to deal with matters related to the integration of the foreign immigrants into Brazilian society” (^{ARENDT, 2011}, p. 108). The period became known as the Vargas Era (1930-1945).

It was also an effervescent period in the arts and architecture, disseminated mainly by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier³. Through the lectures given in São Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian architects and intellectuals definitely adopted modern ideals. At that time, one of the most outstanding events was the competition to create the new seat of the Ministry of Education and Health. Minister Gustavo Capanema called Lucio Costa to design the building, and he, in turn, called architects Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Carlos Leão and Jorge Moreira, Ernani Vasconcellos and Oscar Niemeyer, with Le Corbusier fully involved as a consultant. Thus was born the new building, “[...] considered the starting point of a modern architecture with a Brazilian style (^{SEGAWA, 2014}, p.92).

Modern personalities in architecture and pedagogy also approached the sphere of education. In 1930, Anísio Teixeira invited Lúcio Costa to be the Direct or of the Course of Architecture of the National School of Fine Arts (ENBA- Escola Nacional de Belas Artes). With an academic teaching connected to the current of eclectism, Costa called architects Gregori Warchavchik, Affonso Eduardo Reidy and Alexander Buddeus and proposed profound changes (SÁ, WERLE, 2016). There were intense discussions, and reactions were soon heard. The experience did not last long; however, “[...] enough for a generation of future architects to become aware of the changes occurring in world architecture. l” (^{SEGAWA, 2014}, p. 79).

Also within the sphere of education, 1932 saw the launch of the Manifesto of the Pioneers of New Education. Various intellectuals involved in the regional campaigns of education, among whom Anísio Teixeira, elaborated the document at the congress of education, “[...] portraying the wounds of public education and principles that should guide its reformulation, proposing a unified structure, national in scope, from infant education until higher education” (^{SÁ, WERLE, 2016}, p. 219). In addition they demanded free and mandatory public education, acknowledging the universal right to Education.

A year previously, in 1931, Anísio Teixeira had become the Director of Public Instruction of the City Administration of Rio de Janeiro, (Diretoria de Instrução Pública da Prefeitura da cidade do Rio de Janeiro) remaining in the position until 1935. He advocated a secular (lay), free Public Education, open to all. One of his main tasks was to elaborate a general plan of school buildings that comprised a program of new constructions and established standards for the adaptation of rented buildings. As told by ^{Fernandes (2006}, f.72),

This plan determined different programs for school design, organized according to 2 typologies: the core schools - that would comprise the study activities in the traditional sense and the park schools or school parks for social, artistic, sports activities, or even for activities of a medical and hygienic nature. Children would attend these two types of school daily in different shifts.

The projects were peformed by architect Enéas Silva, Head of the Division of School Buildings and Equipment (Divisão de Prédios e Aparelhamentos Escolares) and obeyed the five types described by Anísio Teixeira: a) Minimal Type with two classrooms and a workshop studio room; b) Nuclear type, twelve classrooms - , spaces for the administration, office and library; c) Platoon type, sixteen rooms- twelve common and four special - for auditorium, music room, games room and recreation; d) Platoon type, twelve rooms - six common and six special - for reading, literature, library, drawing, industrial arts, auditorium, etc; e) Platoon type, twenty-four rooms- twelve common and twelve special - plus a large gymnasium (^{OLIVEIRA, 2007}).

In 1933, Fernando de Azevedo, one of the signatories of the Manifesto, undertook a reform of education in São Paulo, creating a committee in charge of solving the problem of school buildings. A member of this committee was architect José Maria da Silva Neves, professor of the Polytechnic and Fine Arts School, and Head of the Technical Section of Projects of the Directorate of Public Works and Directorate of Education. At the time, Silva Neves proposed buildings that were close to modern thinking, using simple geometric shapes, adopted reinforced concrete, besides recommending an independent structure, yards under pillars and large glassed openings.

The São Paulo committee also presented a number of new guidelines for the elaboration of projects and implementation of the construction works, according to ^{Oliveira (2007}, f. 69):

The architectural program elaborated called for large, bright, airy classrooms, painted in light colors; work facilities, rooms for administration and teachers; and an auditorium which would be used for several functions: games room, room for physical education, for singing, festivities and educational movies; and also as a place for school meetings, parent-teacher assemblies. The new projects also included health care facilities, such as medical and dental offices.

Enéas Silva and José Maria da Silva Neves advocated the principles of modern architecture, breaking with the styles that had prevailed until that time. On the other hand, the advocates of the previous concepts (architectural and pedagogical), classified these projects as a “water tank”, with a Communist model”, among other adjectives. Polemics aside, the geometrizing lines of the school architecture of the time (Figure 1) were affirmed in the architectural scene, and were disseminated throughout several regions of Brazil (SEGAWA, 2004).

Source: ^{Segawa (2014}, p. 67)

Figure 1 Grupo Escolar Visconde de Congonhas do Campo (1936) - Tatuapé, SP / Brazil  

If, on the one hand, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were becoming consolidated as the main economic and industrial centers of the country, Rio Grande do Sul, in the sphere of the governmental policy, “[...] continued to base its economy on agriculture and livestock” (^{CORSETTI; KISTEMACHER; PADILHA, 2007}, p. 176). Characterized by managements identified with Getulio Vargas’ policy, the period was marked by several administrations. José Antônio Flores da Cunha (1880-1959), an interventor appointed by Getúlio Vargas in 1930, was elected governor for the 1935-1937 term. Once he had broken with the Federal government and in the context of the Estado Novo, he was followed by the administrations of Manuel de Cerqueira Daltro Filho (1937-1938), Osvaldo Cordeiro de Farias (1938-1943) and Ernesto Dornelles (1943-1945).

During the Flores da Cunha administration, in 1934, the State Department of Business of Education and Public Health (SESP/RS Secretaria de Estado dos Negócios da Educação e Saúde Pública), was created. It was headed by Otelo Rosa for two years. In 1937, Coelho de Souza took over the department, and headed it during the administrations of Daltro Filho, Cordeiro de Farias and Ernesto Dornelles. According to ^{Búrigo (2014}, p. 18), “[...] it was during the second administration of Flores da Cunha that the reorganization and modernization of the school system began, which continued and was carried on in greater depth during the administration of Interventor Cordeiro de Farias”.

In this undertaking of reorganization and modernization, Coelho de Souza promoted an intense movement to reform the educational system of the state. According to ^{Quadros (2006}), at the same time as the process of nationalizing teaching, the Rio Grande do Sul movement involved four large dimensions: a) jurisprudence on education; b) restructuring the SESP/RS; c) development of policies for the expansion of the public network of education - construction of schools; d) orientation, supervision and inspection of school work.

The re-equipment of SESP/RS began the operation of a movement of educational, political and pedagogical renewal, and for this it required a planned and committed action of the state. For such a large enterprise, in 1939, Coelho de Souza asked Manuel Bergström and Lourenço Filho (1897-1970), to elaborate a preliminary project for the organization of the department. Almost all the suggestions presented, fully aligned with the structure adopted at the Federal level, were used, aiming at “[...] contemplating administrative rationality, objectivity, technical orientation, reformulation of habits and behaviors, and innovation” (^{QUADROS, 2006}, f. 113).

In an interview to a newspaper, Correio do Povo, in 1938, Coelho de Souza summarized the reorganization, foreseeing

a complete reform of the system of education, [...]; to surround himself with specialists of renown capacity, concern himself with teachers; to implement a plan to build schools and acquire school supplies to equip the schools (^{QUADROS, 2006}, f. 75).

In 1938, still, the Regional Offices of Education (Delegacias Regionais de Ensino) were established, dividing the state into ten regions. The following year a decree was enacted establishing the new Rules of Procedure of Elementary Schools, grouping them into two types: isolated schools and school groups (grupos escolares), with architectural projects elaborated by SOP/RS.

However, when implementing reforms, there are records that also show the problems that were occurring in the state government regarding the municipalities. Due to financial straits, the state asked them to provide buildings for the schools, until conditions changed, enabling the construction of new ones (^{QUADROS, 2006}). However, those who responded to the requests usually chose inadequate facilities.

These and other setbacks required inspection trips, often performed by the secretary himself, who showed excessive zeal in this process. The object of care and attention, these actions also confered “[...] visibility on the intense incidence of control and standardization to which the directors and teachers of the schools were subjected” (^{QUADROS, 2006}, f. 87), since, in the context of nationalization of education, concern about teacher training was on the agenda, and was assigned a prominent role.

In 1943, on rendering accounts of his government, Cordeiro de Farias recorded the construction of thirty-three new buildings (Table 1). The location privileged, on the one hand, regions with a high demographic density. On the other, zones in which there was a strong concentration of foreign schools (especially German and Italian- Brazilian). Within the sphere of SOP/RS, the government recorded that, although it only had a small engineer corps it had managed to carry out the job of elaborating an architectural project, organizing calls for tenders and inspecting the execution of rural buildings and urban grupos escolares. (RIO GRANDE DO SUL, 1943).

In 1944, at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new building of a Grupo Escolar in São Leopoldo, a municipality in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, Coelho de Souza made a warm speech exhalting the achievements of public education in the state up to that time, and presented the new school construction plan. During this ceremony he was accompanied by Ernesto Dorneles, the Federal Interventor, besides a retinue that included state secretaries, the Canadian Ambassador and various municipal authorities. Besides showing the major role of SESP/RS as an articulator of the principles of school renewal, the speech emphasized federal action in the face of the requirement of nationalization of the immigration areas:

This school group is for the purpose of serving the city of São Leopoldo, the seat of the municipality where German colonization began in the state. It should have facilities and equipment worthy of a Brazilian school, because only in this way will it be able to carry out the political function that pertains to it - which is to complete national integration of the descendants of the former settlers, already quite advanced in this urban center (CONSTRUÇÕES ..., 1944, p. 425).

The full speech was published in the November 4, 1944 edition of Correio de São Leopoldo. In December of the same year it was disseminated in edition nº 6 of Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos (RBEP), under the title Construções Escolares no Rio Grande do Sul. (School Constructions in Rio Grande do Sul). Further actions of the new plan were also the construction of school buildings in the cities of Rio Pardo, Arroio Grande, Soledade, São Sebastião do Caí, Rosário, José Bonifácio, Santa Rosa, São Lourenço, Getúlio Vargas, São Sepé and Porto Alegre (two units in the capital).

The aforementioned speech also disseminated the information that the SOP/RS projects were examined by the Department of Primary and Normal Education through the Technical Division and Center of Educational Research and Guidance, following medical and pedagogical criteria and suggestions. It also counted on the partnership with the director of the Methodist School of Porto Alegre (Colégio Metodista de Porto Alegre), Mrs. Mary Sue Brown, “[...] who had taken several specialization courses on the technique of school construction in the United States, and very kindly, collaborated with the work.” (CONSTRUÇÕES ..., 1944, p. 422-423).

According to ^{Quadros (2006}), modernization of education in Rio Grande do Sul was based on a philosophical and doctrinaire structure supported on scientific and technical foundations, in which, among other, the expansion of the school system was outstanding. A new phase of school construction on a large scale began in the state. Thus, studying the school architecture produced in it means to see the way the Ideário Moderno (Modern Principles) was appropriated by the architects in the sphere of SOP/RS.

Discussions on the project syntheses: form and space

In order to present the reflections, we made a list of items that were analyzed in the G. E. Silveira Martins project in Bagé/RS. We elaborated an analytic diagram for each of them, covering the perimeter, accesses, circulation, sectorization and formal composition. These elements were examined from the perspective of graphic analysis (^{FLORIO et al., 2002}; ^{TAGLIARI; FLORIO, 2009}; TAGLIARI FLORIO, 2008), which allows “[...] understanding the spacial and formal relationships that prove insufficient if we look only at the texts and the graphic ensemble corresponding to the blueprints, sections and elevations” (^{BARROS, 2017}, f.154).

So far it has not been possible to perform research in the collection of SOP/RS (currently the State Department of Works and Housing (Secretaria Estadual de Obras e Habitação)), which would enable the confirmation of the appropriation of guidelines and /or guidance about the construction of school buildings. Since the survey is not finished, we chose to discuss, in this text, the first impressions about this architecture. In order to enable performing the analyses, it was necessary to establish a section. The analysis was performed based on the original project of the school group, since many of them underwent some change as the years went by.

G. E. Silveira Martins (currently the Silveira Martins Secondary State School )⁴) was to be implanted in the block formed by the General Neto, Caetano Gonçalves, General Sampaio and 20 de Setembro streets, “[...] close to the region which was the site of the first urban settlement of the city of Bagé, ie., in the first urban center, between the Praça da Matriz (Church Square) of São Sebastião Cathedral and Rio Branco Square” (^{BICA, 2013}, f. 184). Dr. Albano Square (Praça Dr. Albano) is currently sited there. Although it is known that, when establishing a location for the grupos escolares, regions with larger spaces were prioritized, we do not, at this time, know precisely why the transfer to the north zone occurred.

The grupo escolar project dates from 1939 and all three floors have a very similar configuration. For this reason, in the present study, only the ground floor was analyzed. Thus, we grouped the criteria into a single block (Table 2), composed by some items for analysis: accesses/perimeter, circulation/space for use, degree of compartmentation and sectorization, which enabled and made it easier to understand the spatial and formal relationships of the building. The interpretive diagrams allow identifying, by lines, contours and geomerical figures, the relationship between the architectural elements, and also the geometrical ones and unit system.

Table 2 Description of the items for analysis and the resulting diagrams.  

Item for analysis	Description	Example of Representation (no scale)
Accesses and perimeter Legend: The red line represents the closed perimeter of the school, without color, the doors and windows. The arrow on the green line indicates the main and secondary access to the building.	The configuration of the perimeter identifies whether the project is structured as a sum of parts, in organic growth, or whether the spaces are submitted to a rigid regular contour and allow identifying functional intentions and of permeability and direction of the openings.
Circulation and spaces Legend: The internal spaces are represented by geometrical figures in dark gray. The black lines with arrows represent circulation between the environments.	They allow finding out how the interconnected or sequential spaces were defined, and visualizing whether the circulation areas are clear and direct. According to the diagram, the dilations and contractions of the internal spaces and their relations with the external ones are identified.
Degree of compartmentation Legend: Dark, medium and light gray indicate very, medium and little compartmentation, respectively.	It allows visualizing the level of subdivision and integration of spaces achieved by the designer according to the sectors and spaces of the school.
Sectorization Legend The color Blue corresponds to the teaching sector, including circulation areas: Red for services; Yellow for the administrative sector.	It allows visualizing the functional understanding of the sectors of the school and the level of integration and relationship between the school sectors and spaces.

Source: Scheme adapted from ^{Tagliari Florio (2008})

The school, inaugurated in 1941, was placed in the block formed by avenues Fernando Machado, Tupi Silveira, Marechal Floriano and Rodrigues Lima. This new urban scenario shared the role of protagonist with another public equipment, Carlos Gomes Square. According to observations made by ^{Gutierrez and Neutzling (2011}), the urban tissue of Bagé allows a clear reading of its growth process, in which the reticulate lines with orthogonal streets are emphasized. The authors also defined four processes of city growth, through which it is found that the zone where the new school building was implemented was located in the expansions that had occurred since the beginning of the 20th century (called third division into alotments, especially northwards. Below we present the interpretive summary of the project.

Final considerations

The representativity of the modern structure observed in the school groups built in Rio Grande do Sul, during the Coelho de Souza administration at SOP/RS justified the choice of this topic as an object of study. Through the “historical” series first delimited in the 1943 Report, it was possible to identify the thirty-three school buildings constructed in the capital and in the interior of the state. Based on standard projects, which varied in size (200, 350, 500 and 750 students), we were able to observe the architectural evolution proposals ranging from a roof with four sloping sides, following the traditional construction model (G.E. Estrela, in Estrela/RS) to roofs protected by platbands, in a clear adaptation to the principles of modern architecture (G.E. Joaquim Caetano da Silva, in Jaguarão/RS.

Thus, beginning with a brief incursion into the matter of reforms during the Vargar Era, we perceive that education acted as a further agent to promote modern architecture in the country during a period marked by the consolidation of the new current. The pedagogical and architectural modernization that occurred in the large centers, together with the wish to renovate education, especially according to the New School, was also felt on the soil of Rio Grande do Sul, during a phase that represented the implication of the policies of expansion of the public school system in the first half of the 20^th century.

The graphic method applied allowed establishing a few relations between the construction in Bagé /RS and the school buildings disseminated throughout the country based on those produced in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro during the 1930/40s, revealing possible similaries with elements of composition, viz; a) implantation of a corner lot, valuing the architectural landmark; b) building with up to three floors, with a basement to raise the building (monumentality); c) use of predominantly geometrical shapes, especially the curved volume on the corner; d) and approach to modern architecture, although the spatial organization of the school group in Bagé considers a building anchored to the soil and articulated by classrooms in an arrangement with central circulation.

On the other hand, there appears to be no intention to utilize pillars, a strategy associated with the Modern period and observed at G.E. Visconde de Congonhas do Campo. This alternative can be seen as a consequence of the slow insertion of an independent structure of reinforced concrete in the interior of the country, together with the high cost of the materials and difficulty in getting specialized labor. However, one can already perceive the inclusion of modern aspects, such as the iron frames of the volume of staircase and auditorium, well lit classrooms, dressing rooms, medical consulting room and auditorium, besides the comfort and hygiene of the school space. In this sense, a few characteristic aspects were identified, which allowed us to establish other approaches, such as: a) proposal for integral education. b) the choice of modern architecture for school buildings; c) the political and social role represented by the school in the State and the cities.