Client: FLPP
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Completion date: 2021
Artwork budget: $500,000
Project Team
Architectural project, pavilion actual abstract concept, design & 3d model (custom BIM, 1/10 prototype, structural & executive model)
Matías Nieto-Tolosa
artemátyika
Landscape architecture design, mosaic paving & fountain design, sculpture initial proposal with approximate location
Tom Balsley
SWA/Balsley
B32 real estate developer, pavilion early figurative concept promoter & general supervisor
Rafael Birmann
Faria Lima Prime Properties S.A.
Pavilion early symbolic concept (archetype)
Pedro Terra
FLPP / Pedro Terra Lab
BIM coordinator & project manager
Renato Silva
FLPP / Caropá Arquitetura
Extruded aluminium framing detail & manufacture
Michael Eidinger
Tera Metais / Aura System
Structural sizing & verification
Flávio Correia D`Alambert
FLPP / Projeto Alpha Engenharia de Estruturas
Engineering & management
Felício Augusto de Vita
FLPP / Uretancorp
Watering, plantation & hardscape BIM project
Gracielle Folli Monteiro
Gracielle Monteiro Paisagismo
Overview
Cachalot-shaped monumental open sculpture at B32 Plaza, a former private space open to the public in the financial district of the biggest Brazilian metropoli. An ineffable real estate fable made tangible as an 18-ton pavilion, commissioned to lead designer Matías Nieto-Tolosa (artemátyika firm) by Rafael Birmann (FLPP corporation).
Two huge curved structural ribs of the whale act as a public bench, protected from heavy tropical sun and rain through an abstract, metallic & glazed semi-reflective skin fixed to a self-supporting tubular membrane in a spatial truss with double cantilever.
Its geometry and topology is intriguingly composed in relation to the main architectural elements of this urban landscape, so they speak to each other in an implicit, non-verbal language.
Goals
To collaboratively design, fabricate and assemble an architectural folly harmonized into a complex real estate scenario for placemaking and implicit corporate signage.
Taking the sperm whale as an archetypal reference was the design premise given by Rafael Birmann and Pedro Terra. Having a respectful architectural integration, providing civic utility, communicating an amazing character and using BIM tools were the design premises set diallectically among Rafael, Pedro and Matías. Designing the actual architecture from the resulting diallectical concept to the prototyping and to the structural & executive level, was the responsibility contracted between FLPP and artemátyika.
Process
Designed through artemátyika's collaborative method between Brazil & Spain. 100% fabricated in Brazil with local, recycled and recyclable steel, aluminium and glass.
Tom Balsley decided the approximate location for the monumental sculpture. B32 Tower architecture was designed by Chien Chung 'Didi' Pei. Aluminium frames and panels installation, coordinated by Michael Eidinger (Aura System) and fabricated by ITEFAL. Steel structure was fabricated, welded and installed by Mectal.
Structural liability was taken by FLPP through local structural engineering Projeto Alpha, with its calculation integrated with Tekla-BIM. Fabrication was led by FLPP, subcontracted to the local manufacturers Itefal and Tera Metais for the aluminium skin, Glassec Viracon for the glazed skin and Mectal for the steel structure, coordinated by FLPP's engineer Felício Augusto da Vita.
Prototyping in wood, ABS plastic, resine and silver was partly developed using the municipal, public digital fabrication labs and a set of local manufacturers from hand-made & 3D-printed jewelry. The 1/10 mockup was developed by Matías and his assistant Elisabete in the local carpentry Himawari 8, close to B32 office and construction site.
Additional Information
This iconic urban scene is defined by a tower, a theater, a plaza, and landmarked with the pavilion: a newly developed scenography called B32, promoted by Rafael Birmann as a real estate 'demiurge'. FLPP acted also as builder and manager for the commercial tower, the theater, the plaza and the pavilion, including the tower operation, maintenance and rental (32 triple-A office floors occupied by global technological companies as Zuckerberg's Meta or Singaporean Shopee). B32 got the LEED Platinum certificate, that included the landscape and its environmental parameters.