A esthetic of imperfection: the thought of John Ruskin and the rural architecture in Santa Catarina

ABSTRACT This article presents a proposal to perceive the rural architecture built by the immigrant artisans in Santa Catarina, from the aesthetic thinking of John Ruskin. The conceptions that form his thinking are taken in light of the concept of the fantastic paradox, a key of reading quite opportune to highlight and reiterate fundamental characteristics of that architecture, such as: the living presence of human labor, imperfection as constructive virtue and picturesque beauty of the built landscape. From the analysis of an architectural set built in wood, we sought to understand the presence of the builder in both the body of the building sheltered in successive generations, and in the preservation of a know-how of traditional constructive techniques transmitted from father to son.