The author analyzes how the architectural production and political performance of four engineers (Eduardo Badaró, Hoche Néger Segurado, Lix da Cunha & Mário Penteado) contributed to the process of spatial modernization of the city of Campinas in the 1930s and 1940s. The period studied coincides with the time of preparation and implementation of the Plano de Melhoramentos Urbanos, developed by the urban planner Prestes Maia, to order the municipal power. Addressing the circumstances that involved the transformation of urban space, having as co-responsible these professionals, the research gives opportunity to a reflect on ideas of modernity that go beyond the field of the arts, do not obey a homogeneous evolutionary line and, above all, recognize the existence of various architectural categories, representatives of the many currents involved in a multifaceted modernization process.