The Maison du Brésil was inaugurated on the 24th of June 1959. It was financed by the Brazilian Institute of Educational Studies. Its design was initially entrusted to the great Brazilian architect Lucio Costa who receive this request direct from the Brazilian government in 1952. The latter called upon his friend Le Corbusier, who had already designed the Fondation suisse, to help him with the project. But Corbusier significantly changed Lucio Costa’s initial design. These changes were not to Costa’s liking and he refused them.
The house holds the status of a foundation and is recognised as a public utility of which the board of directors is chaired by the Brazilian ambassador in France.
The building, made up of a five-story residential block, is supported by powerful and rough concrete pilotis, mounted on beams. The façade is treated with coloured loggias in the style of Le Corbusier’s residential blocks. The walkways and the upstairs kitchens look out onto the park and the bedrooms look onto avenue Pierre de Coubertin.
The building was listed as a historic monument in 1985.
Charlotte Perriand designed the bedroom layout and completed the furnishings with several pieces designed by Jean Prouvé and Harry Bertoïa. On the ground floor there is a welcome hall, the Lucio Costa room with its theatre and exposition space, the meeting room, the offices and the management apartment. The house has 100 rooms.
The lack of maintenance, the installations’ wear and tear, the missing façade panels and the degradation of the building’s sound environment led to its closure for work between 1997 and 2000. The architects Bernard Bauchet and Hubert Rio were charged with its renovation. The works were carried out in close collaboration with Fondation Le Corbusier and the chief architect of historical monuments, Benjamin Mouton. Work was mainly carried out on the damaged construction elements, the renovation of certain spaces to their original state and improving comfort. A historic room with its original furniture designed by Charlotte Perriand was renovated. The house reopened its building at the start of the 2000 school year.