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Resumption of the Ladeira da Misericórdia Complex designed by Lina Bo Bardi
In the 1980s, renowned architect Lina Bo Bardi was invited to join the Special Program for the Recovery of Historic Sites in Salvador, where she developed a visionary project for Ladeira da Misericórdia. This complex, located in the heart of Salvador’s Historic Center, includes three colonial buildings, the Coatí restaurant and the Três Arcos bar. With the collaboration of architects João Filgueiras Lima (Lelé), Marcelo Ferraz and Marcelo Suzuki, Lina envisioned a space for culture, education, commerce and leisure, integrating historical heritage with the daily life of the local population.
Lina Bo Bardi’s project was conceived with the aim of strengthening the connection between education and local culture. In addition, the complex is symbolically located between the Upper and Lower Towns, reinforcing the creation of links between the city’s different socio-cultural contexts, a vision that Lina had from the beginning and which the current project seeks to deepen. However, the planned interventions were not completed, and the architectural complex faced years of abandonment. Today, Salvador City Hall, in partnership with the Pivô Cultural Association and in dialogue with the Bardi Institute, is announcing the resumption of this project, with a commitment to reviving Lina’s vision.
Pivô: Transforming Spaces and Promoting Culture and Contemporary Art
Founded in 2012, Pivô is a non-profit cultural association that stands out on the Brazilian art scene as a platform for exchange and experimentation. Based in the iconic Copan Building in downtown São Paulo, Pivô has established itself as an avant-garde space, hosting commissioned projects, exhibitions, public programs, publications and artist residencies.
Over the last 12 years, Pivô has developed more than 150 projects, welcomed around 200,000 visitors and worked with more than 300 artists, curators and researchers. In addition, Pivô expanded in 2023 with the opening of a new headquarters in Salvador, located in a historic manor house, the birthplace of Tropicalia. The Pivô unit in Salvador aims to consolidate itself as a multidisciplinary platform for artistic research and exchange in the Northeast of Brazil.
A Partnership that Recreates and Reaffirms Lina Bo Bardi’s Legacy
With the purpose of reactivating Ladeira da Misericórdia and honoring Lina Bo Bardi’s vision, Salvador City Hall has joined forces with Pivô to recover this important complex. Salvador City Hall, playing a key role in this process, will grant permission to use the space. This partnership, which also involves the Bardi Institute – created by the couple Pietro Maria Bardi and Lina Bo Bardi in 1990 to preserve the couple’s legacy – seeks to return to the architect’s original purpose, creating a space that unites education, culture and leisure, in tune with the needs and aspirations of the community.
Pivô, in turn, brings to Salvador its expertise in transforming architecturally significant spaces into interdisciplinary centers for contemporary art and culture. The proposal includes using the architectural complex for a diverse and free program, including public programs, artist residencies, exhibitions and educational activities. In this way, Pivô not only reconstructs a historical heritage site, but also dialogues with its socio-cultural surroundings, promoting an interdisciplinary space for creation and culture, in continuity with Lina Bo Bardi’s legacy.
The resumption of the Ladeira da Misericórdia project represents a significant step in the preservation and renovation of the city’s historical heritage, reinforcing Lina’s initial intention.
“Casa Coatí and Lina’s entire project for the Ladeira da Misericórdia actually represent a microcosm of a strategy for the sustainable development and reoccupation of the Historic Center. A plan based on culture and housing, drawn up 30 years ago, which is also what we believe in and are implementing throughout this region. Pivô has brought together a group of people passionate about Lina’s work, who together with Salvador City Hall will operate this project based on the vision and premises of its authors, also considering this post-Lina moment, envisioned by her, when she saw that the popular cultural movement “could lucidly, overcoming the ‘culturalistic’ and ‘historicistic’ phases of the West, enter the world of true modern culture, with the instruments of technique, as a method, and the strength of a new humanism.” Pedro Tourinho, Secretary of Culture and Tourism of Salvador.
This new chapter in the history of Ladeira da Misericórdia contributes to the consolidation of a Salvador that is connected to its past and open to contemporary cultural dialogue. Through this initiative, the city reaffirms its commitment to preserving its heritage and strengthening its cultural identity.
Resumption of the Ladeira da Misericórdia Complex designed by Lina Bo Bardi
In the 1980s, renowned architect Lina Bo Bardi was invited to join the Special Program for the Recovery of Historic Sites in Salvador, where she developed a visionary project for Ladeira da Misericórdia. This complex, located in the heart of Salvador’s Historic Center, includes three colonial buildings, the Coatí restaurant and the Três Arcos bar. With the collaboration of architects João Filgueiras Lima (Lelé), Marcelo Ferraz and Marcelo Suzuki, Lina envisioned a space for culture, education, commerce and leisure, integrating historical heritage with the daily life of the local population.
Lina Bo Bardi’s project was conceived with the aim of strengthening the connection between education and local culture. In addition, the complex is symbolically located between the Upper and Lower Towns, reinforcing the creation of links between the city’s different socio-cultural contexts, a vision that Lina had from the beginning and which the current project seeks to deepen. However, the planned interventions were not completed, and the architectural complex faced years of abandonment. Today, Salvador City Hall, in partnership with the Pivô Cultural Association and in dialogue with the Bardi Institute, is announcing the resumption of this project, with a commitment to reviving Lina’s vision.
Pivô: Transforming Spaces and Promoting Culture and Contemporary Art
Founded in 2012, Pivô is a non-profit cultural association that stands out on the Brazilian art scene as a platform for exchange and experimentation. Based in the iconic Copan Building in downtown São Paulo, Pivô has established itself as an avant-garde space, hosting commissioned projects, exhibitions, public programs, publications and artist residencies.
Over the last 12 years, Pivô has developed more than 150 projects, welcomed around 200,000 visitors and worked with more than 300 artists, curators and researchers. In addition, Pivô expanded in 2023 with the opening of a new headquarters in Salvador, located in a historic manor house, the birthplace of Tropicalia. The Pivô unit in Salvador aims to consolidate itself as a multidisciplinary platform for artistic research and exchange in the Northeast of Brazil.
A Partnership that Recreates and Reaffirms Lina Bo Bardi’s Legacy
With the purpose of reactivating Ladeira da Misericórdia and honoring Lina Bo Bardi’s vision, Salvador City Hall has joined forces with Pivô to recover this important complex. Salvador City Hall, playing a key role in this process, will grant permission to use the space. This partnership, which also involves the Bardi Institute – created by the couple Pietro Maria Bardi and Lina Bo Bardi in 1990 to preserve the couple’s legacy – seeks to return to the architect’s original purpose, creating a space that unites education, culture and leisure, in tune with the needs and aspirations of the community.
Pivô, in turn, brings to Salvador its expertise in transforming architecturally significant spaces into interdisciplinary centers for contemporary art and culture. The proposal includes using the architectural complex for a diverse and free program, including public programs, artist residencies, exhibitions and educational activities. In this way, Pivô not only reconstructs a historical heritage site, but also dialogues with its socio-cultural surroundings, promoting an interdisciplinary space for creation and culture, in continuity with Lina Bo Bardi’s legacy.
The resumption of the Ladeira da Misericórdia project represents a significant step in the preservation and renovation of the city’s historical heritage, reinforcing Lina’s initial intention.
“Casa Coatí and Lina’s entire project for the Ladeira da Misericórdia actually represent a microcosm of a strategy for the sustainable development and reoccupation of the Historic Center. A plan based on culture and housing, drawn up 30 years ago, which is also what we believe in and are implementing throughout this region. Pivô has brought together a group of people passionate about Lina’s work, who together with Salvador City Hall will operate this project based on the vision and premises of its authors, also considering this post-Lina moment, envisioned by her, when she saw that the popular cultural movement “could lucidly, overcoming the ‘culturalistic’ and ‘historicistic’ phases of the West, enter the world of true modern culture, with the instruments of technique, as a method, and the strength of a new humanism.” Pedro Tourinho, Secretary of Culture and Tourism of Salvador.
This new chapter in the history of Ladeira da Misericórdia contributes to the consolidation of a Salvador that is connected to its past and open to contemporary cultural dialogue. Through this initiative, the city reaffirms its commitment to preserving its heritage and strengthening its cultural identity.
