The houses in Ceilândia¹

Abstract

This article is dedicated to living in Ceilândia, the satellite-city with the largest population in the Federal District. It refers back to when the city was created in 1970, and 80,000 people were transferred from the Vila IAPI Settlement. This transfer foresaw the construction of temporary housing by reusing material from the dismantled homes at the settlement, which, over the years, were replaced with masonry houses. Fifty years after its creation, Ceilândia bears little resemblance to its beginnings; it has not been constrained within its original layout; new neighborhoods have been added, and the original dwellings have been replaced and altered in order to adjust to the requirements of the families. This research understands living as being within two complementary dimensions: the city and the home. Thus, it is dedicated to the history of the city and, subsequently, to the homes of its residents. In order to address these two aspects, the urbanist responsible for the original Ceilândia project was interviewed, and narratives of the pioneers, held at the Federal District Public Archives, were analyzed, together with testimonies and drawings by primary school students, expressly collected with the aim of sketching a framework of living in Ceilândia.

Keywords:
Ceilândia Houses; Ceilândia; Satellite city; Brasília (DF); Urban History