Transatlantic exchange : lessons from Brazil in the work of

No período do imediato pós-guerra de fim dos anos de 1940, muitos arquitetos sul-africanos estavam profundamente influenciados pelo modernismo brasileiro. O arquiteto Norman Eaton (1902-1966), de Pretoria, foi um dos responsáveis por disseminar a influência brasileira na África do Sul. Eaton foi influenciado especialmente pelo trabalho de Oscar Niemeyer (19072012), a quem ele conheceu pessoalmente numa viagem pelas Américas em 1945. Na obra de Eaton, a tradução da variante moderna do modernismo brasileiro revelou-se compatível com atributos africanos. Foi provavelmente esse intercâmbio transatlântico que contribuiu para que Eaton encontrasse sua especificidade na transposição em direção a uma identidade africana.


Introduction
In the immediate post-world war period of the late 1940s, many South African architects were turning to an unexpected source of inspiration: Brazilian modernity, which swung away from the rigid International Style. In particular, graduates from the architectural schools of the Witwatersrand and Pretoria had an affinity for the Brazilian variant of Modernism. Amongst others, the inclusion of Brazilian architecture in the multiplicity of architectural directions on display at the 1947exhibition entitled 'Art of Architecture', held at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg bears testimony to the latter. 1 The international architectural press was already filled with reports on Brazil since the early 1940s -the original and most influential of them all being the 1943 publication of New York's Museum of Modern Art, entitled 'Brazil Builds' by Philip Goodwin and G.E. Kidder Smith. In 1944, the Architectural Review (readily available locally) had made a brief comparison between Brazil and South Africa, two distant countries far removed from World War II. 2 In both countries, small groups of young architects were in contact with Le Corbusier, both groups paying close attention to his five principles of architecture. However, the visual enrichment and above all the brise soleil contributions from Brazil soon infiltrated the South African architectural scene. The latter was already tempered by regional mutations that eased the acceptance of local architects of the Brazilian influence. It was especially through the auspices of two Pretoria architects: Norman Eaton (1902Eaton ( -1966 and Hellmut Stauch  that the Brazilian influence was disseminated locally. While Stauch was much indebted to the Brazilian influence and had indeed also visited Oscar Niemeyer (1907Niemeyer ( -2012Niemeyer ( ) during 1948 it was Eaton from the Pretoria crowd who had had the first opportunity to meet the maestro.
The following text highlights Eaton's trip to South America and in which ways the Brazilian influence played out in his own work. In order to 1 Cooke in Fisher et al, 1998, p. 232. 2 Chipkin, 1993, p. 235. 3 Gerneke in Fisher et al, 1998, p. 212-213. trace the similarities as highlighted throughout the text, specific references are made to the work of Eaton in relation to Casa do Baile (1943), by Niemeyer, and the Ministry of Education andHealth (1963-1943) with amongst others, additional reference to the artwork of Candido Portinari (1903-1962. Finally, the landscapes of Roberto Burle Marx (1909Marx ( -1994 unmistakably influenced Eaton's renditions of horizontal field and are again referenced throughout the text.  (1944)(1945)(1946)(1947)(1948), by Eaton. The design was never executed, but was the first South African one in the Modern idiom for a civic client and the first to be influenced directly by the new Brazilian architecture. 4 Font: Eaton Collection, University of Pretoria (UP) Repository.

Eaton meets Niemeyer
In the year 1945, a study tour was organized for Norman Eaton to the Americas in order to research the latest in office layout and design, following his commission in 1944 to design the ambitious and high-profile Ministry of Transport for the then South African government (See Figure 1). The design was the first South African one in the Modern idiom for a civic client and the first to be influenced directly by the new Brazilian architecture. 5 Besides the use of the unfamiliar term 'Ministry', the scheme owed much to the Ministry of Health andEducation (1936-1943), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, designed by the team composed of Lucio Costa , along with Oscar Niemeyer, and several others. Eaton's scheme for the Ministry of Transport (which was never realized) showed parallels with that of the Ministry of Health and Education in 'the juxtaposition of wings, the facades with fins on a grid and adjustable brise soleil and the sculptured lift towers'. 6 Eaton had taken photocopies of his design for the Ministry of Transport along on the seajourney from Cape Town to South America that started in July 1945. His travels included the following cities and places in chronological sequence, where he visited many prominent architects and buildings and made detailed notes accordingly: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, then a stop-over in Fortaleza before continuing to Trinidad, Cuba, Miami, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Bermuda, London, Cairo, Khartoum, Kwasumi, Kitale, Deckham, Mozambique, and finally back in South Africa. In North America, he visited the offices of Richard Neutra  in Los Angeles. He met Frank Lloyd Wright  at Taliesen where he was a guest. He also visited the office of Mies van Der Rohe  and showed the latter his sketch design for the new Ministry of Transport. 7 Eaton had kept a diary of the entire trip, where ultimately most of his time was spent in Rio de Janeiro. Other South African architects accompanied him on the journey -David Haddon (1905-1959) and Broderick Lightfoot (1905-1970, described as 'Haddon' and 'Lightfoot' respectively, and someone he called 'Reitz'. 8 Following a brief sojourn in Buenos Aires, the group was received in Rio de Janeiro on 20 August 1945, by the South African consul to the country along with architect Robert Prentice (1883-1960) -simply described as 'Prentice' in his diary -who seemingly at the time was the President of the Brazilian Institute of Architects. 9 Someone only described by Eaton as architect 'Cortez' accompanied the latter. Eaton and friends were housed in a hotel close to the Min-istry of Education -so that a walk to the building was one of the very first activities undertook upon arrival. At first, Eaton was disappointed that they were not introduced to any of the 'wellknown names in Brazil Builds' 10 and that Prentice did not seem 'to know anyone'. 11 Following a detailed tour to the Ministry of Education building, Eaton's impressions of the building were 'deep' -he described the building as 'great, free, open planning on a brilliantly imaginative scale. An excellent solution of sun protection problem…' 12 The architect Cortez showed him around the city, including some of his own work, and introduced him to architects Peter Pfisterer (1907-?) and Henrique Mindlin (1911Mindlin ( -1971. The latter, also of 'Brazil Builds' fame seemed to have impressed Eaton, and also helped him with introductory letters to American architects. Above all, Eaton was impressed with the work of Oscar Niemeyer, whom he finally got to meet personally on 28 August 1945. The latter had showed him the scheme for Belo Horizonte and had also given him a copy of a new publication of the scheme. 13 Repeated subsequent efforts to arrange a trip to Belo Horizonte failed, as did additional attempts to meet up with Niemeyer, but Eaton did manage a visit to Niemeyer's nursery school, his own house and another house -all of which he described as being 'somewhat weather stained'. 14 Eaton also met other figures, 'young architects' 15 including Mario Torres (unknown) and Egydio de Castro e Silva (unknown). He discussed his design of the Ministry of Transport with both Torres and someone only described as 'de Costa' 16 in his journal. Through Torres he also met with another 'Brazil Builds'-architect 10 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 21 August, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository. 11 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 21 August, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository. 12 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 23 August, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository. 13 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 28 August, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository. 14 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 9 September, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository. 15 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 29 August, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository. 16 See Eaton's 1945-diary, 5 September, from the Eatoncollection, UP Repository.
Marcelo Roberto (1908Roberto ( -1964) -with whom he spent a 'most interesting' morning before visiting the local Architecture School. 17 Unusually for Eaton, there are not many sketches in his diary of the trip. On the first page of his journal however, appear two sketches -one of the 'serpentine mosaic' 18 of the Copacabana Esplanade by Roberto Burle Marx and just below that, a 'rough plan' of the layout of the Monastery and Church of São Bento (1617-1641) in Rio De Janeiro (See Figure 2). It appears that Torres was working with Carlos Ferreira , also of 'Brazil Builds' eminence, and the design for the Realengo Housing project and Community Centre seemed to have made quite an impression on Eaton, as it was also one of the few sketches included in his diary as was shown to him on 10 September 1945 by Torres and Ferreira (See Figure 3). 19 Even if the diary does not necessarily attest to it, the subsequent Brazilian influence on Eaton's work was quite profound as will be seen in the next few pages. Beyond the influencing of his work following the Second World War period, the Brazilian appellation had a huge following in the architectural fraternity and expanded to all Southern African architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. 'Brazil Builds' influences were especially evident in buildings explicitly displaying sun penetration with exaggerated louvers, brise soleil and egg-crate sun-guards, roof gardens in the Burle Marx idiom and sinuous lines. 20   and just below that, a 'rough plan' of the layout of the Monastery and Church of São Bento (1617-1641) in Rio De Janeiro. Figure 3, to the right, is of the Realango Housing project by Carlos Ferreira .
Font: Eaton Collection, UP Repository.

Brazil in Eaton's work
Throughout his career, Eaton had taken various study tours abroad: to Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and later also India and Japan. His most regular ports of call, however, were the countries of Africa, where he meticulously compiled diaries, sketches, and photo journals of local art and architecture. His work reflected his concern for the African in South Africa, especially from the 1940s onwards. Spanning from 1932 to 1966, Eaton's work belongs to roughly three periods. 21 Although the dates do not strictly concur with those of World War II (WWII) from 1939-1945, these eras are divided as follows: • 1930-1940: The pre-war period • 1941-1945

The Greenwood House (1948-1953)
The Brazilian influence was most pertinently visible in the first design on his return to South Africa, a house for the Greenwood family in Pretoria in 1948. While the design is a culmination of the lineage of typologies of his design genealogy to date, it also departed in a striking way in its execution: The most notable difference between House Greenwood and his previous work, was the substitution of previously straight site binding elements with free-flowing, sinuous lines that seem to follow the natural curves of the site but also trace artificial, curvilinear form.
It seems that Niemeyer's Belo Horizonte had had a profound influence on Eaton -despite him never having been able to visit it first-hand. The curvilinear site bounding elements of Casa do Baile (1943), Pampulha, Belo Horizonte (see Figure 12) seemed to have inspired Eatonperhaps he recognized the affinity between Niemeyer's free-flowing, sensuous curves and African organic plasticity.
Niemeyer had employed a combination of curvilinear low retaining walls, along with a curved concrete canopy to extend into the landscape and define a permeable edge between the sinuous swimming pool and the landscape beyond, terminating in a small changing pavilion. Where Eaton had previously reinterpreted the Cape Dutch 24 pergolas as rectilinear site binding elements, he now translated the pergola as a curvilinear extension of the scheme, dematerializing the solidity of the wall and extending into nature.
Eaton had wanted wide projecting eaves 'farflung and shaded in appearance to suit the 24 Cape Dutch architecture predominated in the Western Cape during the 17th to 18th centuries. It is arguably South Africa's only internationally recognized architectural style, and was systematized by sir Herbert Baker (1862-1946); houses in this style were distinguished through ornately scrolled gables, reminiscent of features in townhouses of Dutch style. Houses took on letter-type plans, with the front section of the house usually flanked by two wings running perpendicular to it. Walls were whitewashed, roofs thatched, and sash windows with external shutters typified the style (Fisher, 2000:45).
site…something that fitted quietly into the site rather than contrast it' 25 for House Greenwood.
With the exception of the first floor study, which is faced with wood panelling, the external walls are of coursed random rubble stone, quarried on the site. The dwelling is rectilinear, north facing with strong horizontal emphasis -the latter is enhanced by the fact that Eaton had carefully selected rubble stone in roughly equal sizes with linear or elongated shapes to lay coursed horizontal strips. The house steps along the contours of the site, and extends into the garden where natural and man-made are sensitively integrated with the sloping site. Rubble stonewalls form sinuous lines that extend into the landscape to form a roughly circular clearing in the veld. Terraced banks embrace this planted lawn clearing while separating 'cultivated nature' from natural veld on the slightly higher levels beyond. Richly decorated brick paving with rondel 26 patterns and insets on the constructed terraces contrast the surrounding rocky outcrops.
Eaton had worked on a grid three-dimensionally derived from standardized building components (windows) in his later work. In the Greenwood House the disciplined grid of the windows is carried through so that all other elements align accordingly, which he had already done in his non-residential work. Contrasting and complementing the discipline of the grid, the kidneyshaped mountain pool and indeed the sinuous lines that bind the house to the landscape, are 'sublimation of the Brazilian impact found to be compatible with African qualities'. 27 Harrop-Allin described the pool as being reminiscent of an African calabash. 28 In a chronological setting out of the various typological formations in his design lineage, it was especially possible to see the moment Brazil entered Eaton's design output. While his early designs oscillated between three basic types of configurations, his designs became increasingly more complex, yet simple, amalgamations of 25 Harrop-Allin, 1975:73. 26 Rondel is derived from Old French, literally: a little circle, from rond, it means round. 27 Chipkin, 1993:293. 28 Eaton's own words as quoted in Harrop-Allin, 1975:73. formal diagrams. The typology that Eaton ultimately used the most in his designs was the 'additive rectangle'. Appropriate for the local climate, this typology consists of an elongated, rectilinear composition that Eaton positioned such as to optimize northern exposure. Outside spaces are created in-between building masses, recalling local Ndebele 29 settlement patterns.
Since the typological analysis of his work was done chronologically and on the same scale, it clearly demonstrates how his designs increasingly extended beyond the building envelope to include a defined outside perimeter. The relationship between building form and landscape is enhanced through the positioning of massing and energy is focused outward to the landscape. The moment he returned from Brazil, his rectilinear design typological formation changed to a series of free-flowing, sinuous lines. With exceptions, Eaton seldom applied African organic form-giving in the overall architectural massing of his work, but following his trip to Brazil, he translated organic form to planar fields. When he did express African form, allusion to the African homestead would be offset with rigid standardized structures. While his use of sinuous line was seemingly an initial African translation of Brazilian influences, he later transformed the sinuous line to an increasingly disciplined geometry of repetitive circles and semicircles that was used to define outside perimeters, while regular geometries were used to define building envelopes.

Figure 4:
shows a construction drawing of the sinuous brick carpet for House Greenwood (1948Greenwood ( -1953.  Similar to the design of the Ministry of Transport Building, the design for the Netherlands Bank, Pretoria utilized a grid three-dimensionally derived from standardized building components. The detail resolution of the Netherlands Bank from 1952 to 1955 recall African motifs, and range from smaller objects to patterned textures, integrated carefully into the whole scheme and repeated at different scales. There would always be a control and restriction to his rendering of detailing and pattern, never allowing for mere beautification. Textures would become woven carpets to promote hierarchical differentitaion, give meaning to spaces and to create contrast, always conforming to the outline of the precise geometry underlying the design.
The interior of the building is rendered in smallscale repetitive 'faggoting' tiles to create a seamless interior -a device Eaton had used as early as 1936 to render meaning to surfaces. 31 The word 'faggot' means 'bundle of sticks', as derived from Latin. 32 Eaton used such corrugated tiles as a metaphor to recreate reeded surface patterns in his various Bank buildings, reminiscent of African reed weaving, but also of certain Egyptian tombs. 33 These terra-cotta tiles were made to Eaton's specifications with fine corrugations running along the outer surfaces. Placed vertically, the corrugations of the tiles are reminiscent of 'African tribal grass'. 34 A comparison could be drawn with the murals of Brazil -where local sea-life was reflected in the murals of the Ministry of Education and Health, Rio de Janeiro, by artist Candido Portinari, 35 Eaton translated the symbolic Brazilian mural into an abstracted metaphor of woven African screens to give new meaning to surfaces. Seahorses and shells adorn the surfaces of the Ministry building, while Eaton translates African tickbirds and tiny oxen into a line to form the neck of a bird that holds a waterspout in the Bank. Benin figurines embellish the door handles of the entrance portal (see Figure 6), while the bronze water-spout of the fountain on the sidewalk is a 'purely African shape'. 36 Figure 7: The roof garden of the Netherlands Bank, Pretoria (1948Pretoria ( -1955 Brazilian influences are again clearly visible in the undulating lines of the roof gardens, recalling the swelling lines of Burle Marx (See Figure 7). Eaton seemingly translated the sinuous, free line of Marx into a carefully controlled undulating line, with circles (perfect geometries as opposed to Marx's free form) repeating at various scales along the periphery of the central 'spinal screen wall' (the word Eaton used to annotate the drawing of the roof between the office wings). 37 The series of circular and semicircular plant pockets and pools are constructed of rich brown roughly textured bricks placed vertically.  (1957), which was a pedestrian linkage between two streets. Eaton envisioned the arcade as a carpet of mosaic that lines the entire interiorhe seemingly translated the symbolic Brazilian mural into a metaphor of woven African pattern to give new meaning to surfaces. The pedestrian walkway and undulating wall of the Little Theatre (c.1940-1950) forge a connected surface of patterned masonry, that sets up an imaginative dialogue of ever-changing patterns and shadows -again reminiscent of Belo Horizonte. 37 Ibid. 38 Harrop-Allin, 1975, p. 102. 39 Image by Pienaar, M (2008).
Brick surface 'carpets' bound inside and outside space in his later work, documented in carefully crafted hand drawings, again recalling African motifs of weaving and making to emulate woven textures as documented in his travel sketch books.

Figure 10:
The pedestrian walkway and undulating wall of the Little Theatre (c.1940-1950) forge a connected surface of patterned masonry, that sets up an imaginative dialogue of ever-changing patterns and shadows -again reminiscent of Belo Horizonte.
Font: From the Eaton Collection, UP Repository.

Netherlands Bank, Durban (1965)
Where Eaton rendered the Netherlands Bank in Pretoria (1948Pretoria ( -1955 in heavier earthy, ochre tones to respond to the setting amidst rocky outcrops, the Netherlands Bank along the subtropical coastline in Durban (1960Durban ( -1965, was rendered in cool hues of carefully selected blues and greens and a filigreed facade that commands attention and contributes to a very different sense of place. Eaton's Netherlands' Bank in Durban, on the sub-tropical Kwazulu-Natal coastline, is recognized as his masterpiece. In many ways, the design was an adapted version of the more stereotomic Bank in Pretoria where thermal mass is appropriate for the climate. Eaton responded to the sub-tropical environment of Durban, by peeling the skin of the building away, so that it became a layered façade appropriate to the climate. He described the resultant screen on his drawings as an 'open sun protection screen built up of glazed reinforced tiles' 40 -an adapted brise soleil.
Hollow bricks of the green glazed sunscreen that wrap around three sides of the building were made to special measurement and individually glazed to a colour determined by Eaton himself through a long process of experimentation. The bricks were threaded vertically onto steel rods -the entire construction suspended from the flat roof. Details are repeated on various scales in the building so that texture becomes like a continuous field. If architecture can be thought of as a mediating force in the world, where the idea of mimicry plays a central role, Eaton's treatment of surfaces is then a form of mimicry, a visual correspondence between things -a representation of symbols to present new meanings or imbue alternative forms of identity. Allusions to African motifs became ever-more restrained and nuanced in Eaton's work following his initial expressive Brazilian translation: mat-like bamboo screens, untreated wooden poles, brick screen walls, rectangular piers topped with simple conical lanterns, and freestanding cylindrical brick drums to articulate entrances. In his final work, interconnected courtyards with linked pavilions recall Ndebele settlement. The combination of vertical and horizontal textures on various scales is carefully considered to give the appearance of having been woven like African grass mats.

Conclusions
As an architect operating in the space between Africa and Modernity, Eaton's adaptation of an African identity was noteworthy -in the architectural realm, it was a singular endeavor at the time. He had a profound influence on a next generation of local architects who attempted to locate architecture within a particular placeidentity, learning from his experiences -and therefore indirectly also from Brazil.
While Eaton's work continued to evolve over the years to connect ever more closely with the landscape on the one hand, and the African continent on the other, it was the Brazilian experience that somehow opened his eyes to alternatives of abstraction of architecture as a mediating force in the world. It was probably because of the contribution of his trans-Atlantic exchange that he ultimately found his own voice in the translation of African qualities. 44