Lina Bo Bardi’s Museu de Arte De São Paulo. A Conservation Plan for a 20th-Century Masterpiece

This article presents the development of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) Conservation Plan. It thoroughly investigates the complex structural system of the building designed and constructed in the 1960s by architect Lina Bo Bardi. The Museum was awarded a grant under the Getty Foundation’s Keeping It Modern program in 2017. The research is divided into documentary investigations, including studies of the Museum’s archives and those of other institutions, as well as examinations conducted within the building itself. These include metric surveys and explorations, as well as laboratory tests. This comprehensive approach has enabled an understanding of how the system was conceived, constructed, and its current state of preservation, considering all the transformations that have occurred over time. This in-depth understanding facilitates the establishment of specific urgent conservation procedures for the short, medium, and long term. It also contributes to proposals for conserving other infrastructure renovations as well as any future intervention.