Abstract Walking around any Brazilian neighbourhood built around the mid-twentieth century one cannot avoid noticing the prevalence of modernist aesthetics in the facades of the majority of the houses. Even more unique is the fact that those houses were not designed by architects but instead were conceived by the owners themselves with the help of untrained construction workers. In this article I call them ‘amateur architects’ and I analyse this singular phenomenon. This article also goes beyond the Brazilian case to problematise the issue of architectural dissemination. How does it take place? What are the vectors of information? How are stylistic and spatial trends disseminated? How do non-professional architects such as house owners, inhabitants, and construction workers participate in fabricating architectural aesthetics. In sum, how could a modernist proposal become vernacular? Such a vernacular modernism becomes an interesting appendix to the broader revaluation of amateurism in the arts.

中文翻译：

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二十世纪巴西的业余建筑师

摘要 走在 20 世纪中叶左右建造的任何巴西街区，人们都无法避免注意到大多数房屋外墙都盛行现代主义美学。更独特的是，这些房屋不是由建筑师设计的，而是由业主自己在未经培训的建筑工人的帮助下构思出来的。在这篇文章中，我称他们为“业余建筑师”，并分析了这种奇异现象。这篇文章还超越了巴西案例，对建筑传播问题进行了问题化。它是如何发生的？什么是信息向量？风格和空间趋势如何传播？业主、居民、建筑工人等非专业建筑师如何参与营造建筑美学？总共，一个现代主义的提议怎么会变成白话呢？这种乡土现代主义成为对艺术中的业余主义进行更广泛重新评估的有趣附录。