Arquitectura Moderna en el Ecuador: Campus Universidad Central del Ecuador y la influencia de Gilberto Gatto Sobral

Abstract

The research investigates the different mechanisms and formal operations carried out by one of the pioneers of modern architecture in Ecuador, the Uruguayan architect Gilberto Gatto Sobral, for the design of the Campus of the Central University of Ecuador and its first two buildings that were designed and executed between 1945-1955, the Central Administrative Pavilion and the Faculty of Jurisprudence, in Quito - Ecuador, the purpose, to analyze, study and understand how he intervened before an urban-architectural plan. In the first instance, the trajectory of the architect Gilberto Gatto Sobral is described through a detailed review of his academic training, professional and his influences, until to reach the execution of his projects. Understanding these criteria and for the deepening and respective understanding of the mechanisms used on the campus and the buildings under study, three key concepts used in an architectural solution are taken as a theoretical foundation: the site, the program and the technique, these serve as the basis for the reconstruction and analysis of the General Plan of the University campus and the buildings to be studied: the Central Administrative Pavilion and the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences. As results of the study, in the first place, it is possible to identify the design criteria that the architect will apply in his future urban and architectural projects; it is also possible to value the projects of modern architecture in the country; and finally, as a research contribution, the first manifestations of modern architecture in the country are discovered.