Biography Irineu Breitman was born on June 3, 1930, in Cachoeira do Sul (Rio Grande do Sul). His father was the photographer Sioma Breitman, a Ukrainian who immigrated to Brazil in 1924 and built his career as a photographer. The sensitivity he inherited from his father is seen throughout his architectural work, which encompasses the most diverse types of buildings, among which hospitals. Destined to become an engineer and mathematics teacher, Irineu changed his mind after being marveled by an Argentine architecture magazine, which a colleague showed him. He then enrolled in the Institute of Fine Arts, currently College of Architecture of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, graduating on June 25, 1953. Curiously, a year before his graduation, he designed the project for the Colégio Israelita Brasileiro de Porto Alegre, already demonstrating his great potential. Shortly after, in 1954, he had his first experience with hospital buildings, designing the institution that would become one of the most important hospitals in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul: Fêmina Hospital, specialized in women health. Inspired by the principles of the Carioca School, more precisely the architecture of Jorge Machado Moreira, the project proposes a vertical structure suspended by pilotis, with nine floors (ground floor, mezzanine and eight more floors), a lower floor permeated by two large gardens and a volume with three floors located at the back of the lot. The hospital, which was not built according to the initial project, was advised by architect Jarbas Karman, who had been studying the subject in North America. Increasingly interested in hospital architecture, little by little he abandoned the inspirations of his training, continuing to search for solutions that better corresponded to the complex functional program, operational efficiency and the comfort of patients and employees. In the 1950s, he won the architectural competition for the construction of Lar dos Velhos, a retirement home, with a horizontal design that comprised just two floors. Moreover, he received a “Bronze Medal” and a “Silver Medal” in two important awards in Porto Alegre and was, for the first time, president of IAB-RS. In the 1960s, he received the Silver medal at the First Architecture Meeting of Rio Grande do Sul; designed a series of houses in Pelotas and Porto Alegre; was re-elected president of the IAB-RS; became a professor of design at the College of Architecture of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; and designed the Pinel Clinic, intended for the treatment of psychiatric diseases. He enhanced his production in the 1970s, with the foundation of HOSPLAN, a company that brought together several professionals with experience in projects for health institutions, which led to his partnership with the physician and administrator Paulo Lindolfo Lamb, who used to be a consultant in the area of hospital planning. In 1974, for the project of Miguel Piltcher Hospital, he designed, for the first time, the roof in concrete sheds, possibly inspired by industrial projects, to provide natural lighting and ventilation to indoor environments. His preference for horizontal hospitals is consolidated in 1977, with the project for Joana de Gusmão Children’s Hospital, with two floors organized within mismatched floors, allowing the use of half-ramps for vertical circulation. In the same year, he begins to teach Hospital Architecture in the Specialization Course in Hospital Administration of the Association of Hospitals of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, beginning his work of educating and sharing his knowledge in architecture of hospital buildings. In the following years, he designed three large public hospitals in the state of Santa Catarina: Dr. Hans Dieter Schmidt Regional Hospital, in Joinville; São José Regional Hospital, in Florianópolis; and Oeste Regional Hospital, in Chapecó. The first is a horizontal hospital, with mismatched floors connected by half-ramps, similar to Joana de Gusmão. The other two have more similarities with Miguel Piltcher Hospital, as they have a horizontal base, which houses most of the hospital services and a tower with the hospitalization units. Roofs with sheds are present in these two hospitals. In the following decades, he participated in a series of national and international congresses and events focused on healthcare, sharing his experiences with hospital building projects, advocating for horizontal development and the care for the physical and psychological comfort of users. In 1998 he designed the Teaching Hospital for the University of Passo Fundo with his son, who is also an architect, Lucio Breitman; the building was never built. He was honored on several occasions, such as at the ADH Congress in 2004 and at the Faculty of Architecture of PUC-RS in 2010. To learn more about Irineu Breitman, please read: A arquitetura de hospitais de Irineu Breitman1.
2. http://www.iph.org.br/revista-iph/materia/a-arquitetura-de-hospitais-de-irineu-breitman
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