This study examines the work of Rino Levi, who belonged to the generation of architects that implants and develops modern architecture in Brazil. The analysis focus the study of project process and attempts to identify general procedures,always considering the interaction between the production of the modern architect and the environmentin which he acts. The special nuances showed by modernity in view of the dichotomies rationality and contingency,normative and special, etc., indicated by authors such as Alan Colquhoun and Carlos Eduardo Comas, are a centraltheme in this investigation. Firstly, a reading is made of his first years’ work, taking into account the influences and theurban and cultural context in which the architect develops his activity, as well as his practical work and the consequenttheoretical reflections. After that, the work of his professional maturity is analyzed, based on the qualitative aspectsof the urban space – from the center of the metropolis to the mansions located in the suburbs. The interpretation ofLevi’s work from a contingent fact as important as the urban place unveils the various adaptations that such architecturecould undertake, keeping identifiable, in its basis and structure, the modern “scheme”.