In this lecture, Catherine Seavitt explores two often overlooked episodes in the career of Roberto Burle Marx (1909–94): his absence from the original planning of Brasília in 1960 and his later association with Brazil’s military dictatorship through service on the Conselho Federal de Cultura. Seavitt argues that any discussion of Burle Marx and Brasília must take these histories into account. She considers, in particular, his later work for the military government in Brasília, including two ministry palace gardens and Praça dos Cristais, the large triangular plaza at army headquarters created with architect Oscar Niemeyer. Commissioned in 1967 as a military parade ground and inaugurated in 1973, Praça dos Cristais reveals the political context in which Burle Marx’s late work in the capital took shape.

The talk draws on Seavitt's book Depositions: Roberto Burle Marx and Public Landscapes under Dictatorship (University of Texas Press, 2023), supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation, and is presented in conjunction with Latinitudes: A Collection of Latin American Modern Architecture.

Catherine Seavitt is Meyerson Professor and Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design. She is the faculty codirector of the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology and creative director of the department’s LA+ Journal. A registered architect and landscape architect, she is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Institute of Architects, the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, and the American Academy in Rome. Her research explores urban landscapes, post-industrial sites, toxicity, and inventive plant knowledge, with a focus on actionable responses to the climate crisis and decarbonization. Seavitt’s books include Depositions: Roberto Burle Marx and Public Landscapes under Dictatorship (University of Texas Press, 2023); Structures of Coastal Resilience, with Guy Nordenson and Julia Chapman (Island Press, 2018); and Four Corridors, with Guy Nordenson and Paul Lewis (Hatje Cantz, 2019).


Image:  Roberto Burle Marx, aerial view of the Crystal Plaza garden for the Ministry of the Army with Oscar Niemeyer's Army Headquarters complex seen beyond, 1972, Brasília, Brazil. Courtesy of the Arquivo Público do Distrito Federal.

For more information on the exhibition, Latinitudes
A Collection of Latin American Modern Architecture, click here.