Located in a historical building in São Paulo central district, in the Ramos de Azevedo Square, we designed a space to show the history of the Votorantim group, focusing on the metals sector.
The objective of the design is to provide a sensitive experience and not just a support fot informmation: the material itself is the content. With an emphasis on materiality, we showed all the stages of the production process, from the extraction of the mineral in its most raw state until the production of the thinnest sheet, incorporating as well the intermediate stage which are normally omitted. That materiality was also tensioned by the use of raw materials worked on with advanced technologies: solid blocks and sheets cold cut with water jet following CAD designs, complex geometries such as the twisted ellipses made of rods, aluminum plates cut with conforming the organic shape of the ceiling.
Another aspect emphasized by the exposition is the territorial dimension of the company, in two ways: the extensive network established between the places of production, distribution, and the logistics involved, which today has a global dimension; and the degree of physical intervention on the site, with the extraction, the building of dams, the installation of large factories and of enormous transportation lines and the consequent challenge that is continuing this evolution in a sustainable, social and environmentally responsible way....more
Date: 2007
Completion of construction: 2008
Architecture design:
Martin Corullon, Anna Ferrari e Gustavo Cedroni
Paloma Delgado e Paula Mendonça [colaboradores]
Construction area: 592 sq ft (550 m²)
Management of projects and construction: Carlos Lensoni
Lighting design: Ponto Elétrico - Ricardo Heder
Graphic design: BVY arquitetos associados, Cássia Buitoni
Air conditioning: Cold-Express
Photographs: Leonardo Finotti