Next to the architect's desk,on the fifth floor of his studio in the center of Sao Paulo,stands a chest of drawers in dark wood. Until about a year ago,the lower drawers contained drawings and documents for specific projects,while the upper ones held an assortment of memories in tangible form - letters,invitations,postcards,sketches by others,personal photos. In the midst of such private material,there were also envelopes full of drawings.Some of these drawings were created for specific publications,but the majority of them were not commissioned. Paulo Mendes da Rocha did not use them or allow them to be used in any of the books about his work or in any of the articles he published,with 2 exceptions: about 15 years ago,he let a magazine devoted to psychoanalysis publish a large selection of them,and when I used some of them,unbeknownst to him,in a monograph I edited on his work,he expressed not concern for his privacy but appreciation.
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