Awarded first prize, this collaborative work was developed by a group of eight students for the XVIII CLEFA (Latin America Conference of Schools and Universities of Architecture).
The competition challenged participants to design a cultural center in their own hometowns. In São Paulo—a sprawling metropolis of 17 million inhabitants—our team recognized a city fragmented and constrained by the erosion of urban symbols and public spaces.
We observed that in many large cities, citizens have grown accustomed to accepting what is possible rather than pursuing the ideal. This accommodation has led to an identity crisis: people no longer relate to or recognize themselves within shared public spaces.
Rather than proposing yet another centralized cultural element, our solution aimed to integrate culture into daily urban life through an architecture that engages users directly, provokes reflection, and fosters movement. Instead of a permanent structure, the project envisioned a nomadic intervention—a system that would activate a specific urban site, transform its meaning, and then relocate to another space to repeat the process. Each location, once inhabited and reinterpreted, would be reframed and reintegrated into the urban consciousness.
At the core of the concept are the “Sentinelas”—modular units strategically placed at points of urban tension and along significant pedestrian flows. Functioning as urban “wrappings,” each Sentinela acts as a lens offering new perspectives of the city. Designed to hover above the ground, these lightweight and transparent structures were conceived for ease of assembly and mobility.
The experience begins with a dynamic panel of simultaneous images—juxtaposing views of cities across the globe and multiple vantage points within São Paulo—inviting users into a process of shared urban perception. From there, visitors access three distinct spaces:
In this way, the Sentinelas embody a cultural infrastructure that is adaptive, mobile, and relational—designed not just to inhabit the city, but to question, activate, and ultimately transform it.
Recognized with an honorable mention, this professional competition entry—co-authored with architect Ana Karina di Giacomo—was developed for the new headquarters of AEAAOR (Architects Association of Osasco and its Region) and CREA-SP (Regional Council of Architects, Engineers, and Agronomists). The design envisioned a dynamic architectural solution to integrate these two institutions within the rapidly transforming urban context of Osasco.
Addressing themes such as verticality, mixed-use programming, the interplay of public and private spaces, and the creation of high-quality, civic-oriented environments, the project sought to foster a stronger urban identity. Rather than treating the institutions as isolated entities, the design imagined two distinct headquarters connected by circulation paths and shared spaces formed through a lightweight metal structural system.
At the ground level, the buildings were elevated on pilotis, creating an open axis that linked the front and rear of the site and reinforced the block’s permeability. A long ramp provided a singular access point for both institutions, guiding users through the ensemble while offering a strong visual and spatial narrative.
An auditorium, integrated below street level, served as a civic anchor and preserved surface-level space for public use. The foyer, positioned under the metal structure, was shaded by a brise-soleil system, which also acted as a threshold between public and private realms.
This design explored architecture’s capacity to mediate institutional presence and urban life, fostering both interaction and distinction within the shared urban fabric.
As the culmination of my academic journey, this thesis focused on a strategic urban void: the derelict site of a former central mill, once a key industrial hub in São Paulo. Over time, most of the mill complex had been demolished, leaving behind only a decaying annex building surrounded by an expansive terrain vague and bisected by an inactive railway line. This context created a fractured urban landscape—physically adjacent yet socially divided—between two distinct neighborhoods. On one side, Bom Retiro, a district with remnants of its working-class industrial heritage still preserved amid urban transformation. On the other, Campos Elíseos, a neighborhood caught between Julio Prestes Station and Rio Branco Avenue, suffering from decades of decay and engulfed by declining commercial activity. The railway, reduced to a mere passage without stops, further deepened this sense of spatial and social disconnection.
The central challenge was to explore how architecture could reconnect the city and its citizens to this neglected space. Rather than filling the void with a new structure that ignored its historical and urban context, the proposal sought to reinterpret the existing mill and activate its potential as a catalyst for connection. The intervention introduced slender residential slabs—“Lâminas Habitacionais”—that integrated new housing into preserved structures, blending contemporary architecture with heritage in a way that articulated public and private spaces within the urban blocks. Public and cultural anchors, including a new train station and community facilities, were envisioned as tools to revive urban rhythms and restore vitality to the area.
This layered strategy aimed to transform a neglected, disconnected zone into a vibrant, meaningful part of the city, reconnecting people to place and reestablishing a dialogue between memory and transformation.
