Postmodernism and syncretism in Peruvian architecture The Chabuca Granda Housing by José García Bryce (1984)

Abstract

The historiography of modern Latin American architecture has advanced steadily in recent years, which leads us to a critical review of the inventoried works. In Peru, the interpretation of these works is still scarce, but it shows new dimensions in the understanding of local architectural production. In this context, the Chabuca Granda Grouping, a multi-family home designed in Lima by the Peruvian architect José García Bryce, appears as a key work in the understanding of an architecture that appeals to postmodernism as an expressive tool and incorporates new influences in the local imagination. The study of the project aims to present postmodernism as a key reading in the recognition of a Peruvian architecture that is mestizo and rich in content. This work exemplifies the complexity of identity relations by reinterpreting a historicist, colonial-republican language, in a process of syncretism that is characteristic of Peruvian culture. The discourse is positioned with a conciliatory narrative between eras and styles and allows us to discover, through the work, that postmodernism and syncretism are two sides of the same coin, enriching the understanding of contemporary Peruvian culture and its architectural materialization.