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2020 Biography of a building; Urban architecture - ProQuest

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Biography of a building; Urban architecture

The Economist; London Bd. 418, Ausg. 8978,  (Feb 27, 2016): n/a.

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The changing fortunes of an apartment block, and its city

MASSIVE yet graceful, Edificio Copan partakes of the monstrousness of the city that surrounds it but is
shaped by the sensuality of its architect, Oscar Niemeyer. Its curved form is meant to suggest the tilde above
the "a" of Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. With 5,000 residents in 32 floors of flats stacked atop 72 shops and
restaurants, the building has its own postcode. Two framed certificates in the office of Affonso de Oliveira,
Copan's "prefeito" (mayor), attest that in the mid-1990s the apartment block held a Guinness record as Latin
America's biggest residential building. It remains the city's largest, most recognisable dwelling.

In its 50-year history (its birthday is in May, if you count from the day city hall issued the first residency
permit), Edificio Copan's changing fortunes have at different times mimicked and diverged from those of Sao
Paulo itself. These days, the building is doing better than its city. Sao Paulo's 11m people, who produce a
tenth of Brazil's GDP, are suffering as the country enters its second year of recession, although not as badly as
much of the rest of the country. Copan, along with the town's centre,...

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