The project for CAU-TO’s headquarters was conceived based on the idea of a high environmental performance building, with rationalized construction, great internal flexibility, growth possibility and a distinct presence in the landscape. It seeks, above all, to ensure the building’s exemplary character and a long and dignified duration, as suitable for a public building that represents the State’s Architecture and Urbanism.
An open ground floor, located under the shadow cast by the elevated volume, houses the public activities – hall, multipurpose and coworking – emphasizing their integration with the city through the continuity of the sidewalk floor and a structure with few supports that increases flexibility and integration on these spaces.
An elevated box, done with light metallic structure, modulated and with small spans, surrounded by heavy solid bricks walls painted white , of high thermal inertia, conceives an introspective microclimate, sheltering the workspaces with great quality, counting on total control of solar incidence through the use of gardens covered with pergolas and rigorously calculated eaves to prevent the direct incidence of light in internal spaces while still allowing the sky to be seen. Added to this set is the expansion of thermal inertia done through the green roof, which qualifies the fifth facade of the building foreseeing its future presence in the landscape when the surroundings are all verticalized.
The integration of construction techniques differentiates a heavy work, in concrete, of a more urban and resistant character, which mediates the relationship with the ground, to a tectonic logic, which allows the integration of workspaces to the gardens, with abundant natural light and the minimum of divisions. The structural module is equivalent to the minimum spatial module to accommodate work or meeting spaces and, when associated, form integrated environments with great flexibility. To achieve so, the building infrastructure core is concentrated in the background, freeing up the pavement.
Two crossings at ground floor organize the flows. On one side, the shaded access for vehicles forms a porte-cochère on event days and allows loading and unloading directly to the kitchen. On the other hand, the hall opens onto the street and the back of the lot, welcoming pedestrians and converging access towards the reception, which facilitates control. In the background, the parking lots will accommodate, in the future, an elevated annex with independent vertical circulation that may be used integrated or independently from CAU, preserving the hierarchy of the frontal volume that characterizes the institution.
