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Architects: Perkins&Will
- Area: 17715 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Pedro Mascaro
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Manufacturers: Biancogres, Eliane, Tech Alumi
Text description provided by the architects. One of the most celebrated streets in São Paulo, Oscar Freire is a synonym of fashion, style and well living. Its 2,6 km goes from Sumaré to Jardins, translating different achitectoric languages and use possibilities. Since March, the highest point on Oscar Freire street, from where you have one of the most astonishing views of the city, has been home to Oscar by You, Inc, a mixed-use development designed by Perkins&Will São Paulo. “The project was a great opportunity for us to present something that outstands the market expectations", says Douglas Tolaine, Principal Design at Perkins&Will's São Paulo studio. "As in fashion, we assumed a posture of questioning the obvious and proposing the new in a unique and particular way. It was challenging to adapt the program so we could create vertical and operational flows in a refined plasticity", he adds.
Located just 260 meters away from the Sumaré Metro station, the building makes use of a 2,700 m2 plot of land to articulate a composition of different volumes, thus organizing the four existing residential typologies. "The volumes are connected sometimes by height gauges, sometimes by the generous openings, shapes and materialities with the urban landscape", says Fabio Pittas, Senior Project Architect at Perkins&Will São Paulo and one of those responsible for the project.
Oscar by You, Inc's design suggests a reinterpretation of modernist elements, such as organic shapes and pilotis, opposed to a contemporary and functional vision of spaces. The two longest facades gained circular cutouts, creating round windows that rescue this reference from the 1950s and bring it into the contemporary world by being replicated in organized rows. "Giant circular windows in the apartments highlight the building while giving residents a different perspective of the view", analyzes Tolaine.
The same references occur with the stilts, used here to create an intermediate leisure area that joins two others, one located on the ground floor and the other on the rooftop, 80 meters high, where the infinity pool and the skylounge are placed. This striking vertical spacing between volumes creates a transition between the different identities, upper and lower, and typologies of the development.
Oscar by You, Inc has studios and apartments with 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms, including those with a double height of 3.70 meters. On the ground floor, four commercial units integrated into the street were designed, putting into practice the concept of an active façade which, in this case, gains the complement of an open square. "Using devices such as the active façade and a generous space on the sidewalk, we create a feeling of spaciousness and lightness in the space, even for those who only pass by the address", explains André Botto, architect of the team responsible for the project. "This lightness can also be seen in the design: for an elegant construction that frames the view of the region, we used different textures, languages and volumes as a solution, valuing it". The landscaping is by Rodrigo Oliveira, while the interiors of common areas are by João Armentano. The project was built by Construcompany.
“Oscar Freire is now the most expensive street in Brazil and the eighth most luxurious in the world. In this sense, the Oscar by You, Inc. sought connection with this inspiring context. We united all the lifestyle, fashion and architecture of this destination in the São Paulo metropolis. The development aims to bring together different uses, sizes and needs in an unnovative way, building a great diversity that generates the aesthetics of the tower", summarizes Douglas Tolaine.
Coatings
The coatings used on the façades stand out in the development, revealing a network of partnerships between architects and suppliers that resulted in an excellent finish, such as the use of different Eliane lines. "In an elegant way, the building created several visual dialogues with the city. So, we applied some textures to the facade – and with Eliane Tec's products we achieved a unique, striking and elegant building by positively impacting the city's skyline", says Tolaine.
For Fabio Pittas, coverings are the equivalent of a design suit. “The façade of Oscar by You, Inc features variations of gray, highlighting the building's timeless aesthetic as a texture, a garment it wears. There was a work of studies to optimize the cuts in the sizes of the pieces, composed of technical porcelain tiles by Eliane. In the end, for better use, we lay out the pieces vertically two by two to give the elongated sensation just as we planned", he says. "The quality of the finish is remarkable, even more so when it comes to technical porcelain tiles, where the production mass is from the same tonality of the plate's finish", adds Pittas.
According to André Botto, "materializing a building with diverse needs and programs in one of the most valued addresses in the city poses challenges and opportunities, demanding technical solutions that allow translating the intended design language efficiently", he points out.
Round Frames
An expression of the meticulous work of the team was the application of round frames next to the ventilated façade system, guaranteeing the closure of the chamber and excellence in the final finish. For this, the solution chosen was the woody coating Muira Caramello, by Biancogres, inspired by Muiracatiara wood, with discreet veins that combine the warm atmosphere of the natural material with the resistance of porcelain tiles. According to Fabio Pittas, the ventilated facades allowed important thermal gains and less maintenance throughout the life of the building.
Finding brands in Brazil capable of executing rounded profiles (or scaled profiles, in architectural language) was another challenge, since the product is more used abroad. Thus, the Perkins&Will team had the help of the supplier Tech Alumi, taking on the challenge of producing the frame with national aluminum profiles. The company produced the prototype of the project's frame and submitted it to fitting, acoustic performance and tightness tests, among others, under approval of the concept developed by the architecture team.
The watertight aspect, which is the ability of the frame to prevent the water intake, demanded the pieces to be executed with a double opening. To meet handling and ventilation standards, it was necessary to install an electronic trigger for opening the upper part of the frame, while the lower part, being smaller, can have a tilting system.
