Modernity and Coloniality

Aesthetic, Spatial, and Political Dimensions in the Alvorada Palace

Abstract

This article examines the Palácio da Alvorada as an emblematic expression of coloniality embedded in Brazilian architectural modernity. Although conceived as a symbol of rupture and progress, the building reveals historical continuities between Brasília’s modernist project and the forms of power inherited from the colonial past. The analysis identifies three dimensions of this persistence: aesthetic, in the selective appropriation of Luso-colonial tradition; spatial, in the separation between representational and service areas; and political, in the fusion between house and state, characteristic of patriarchal and colonial formations. By interpreting the Alvorada as a “monument of modern occupation,” the study advances a decolonial reading of Brasília’s architecture, exposing how the modernist utopia rests upon exclusionary symbolic and social structures. Ultimately, the article contributes to rethinking the role of architecture in the construction—and reproduction—of power hierarchies within modern space.