Gruposp has designed a new corporate headquarters for nonprofit Sebrae in Brasilia, Brazil that takes cues from the brutalist architecture of the country’s capital while integrating sustainable building strategies throughout. The design pays particular attention to the site's warm climate by providing plenty of outdoor space tempered by extensive cooling features such as a green-roofed auditorium, cooling pools, and brise-soleil cladding. The floating design turns the typical office on its head (or inside-out in this case) by featuring an open core with work spaces flanking the perimeter.
The office building is deceptively simple from a distance, appearing as a 3-story vertical grid of screened windows on one side flanked by concrete walls. Visitors who venture closer discover an undulating form where the front lawn becomes a roof, the promenade transitions towards reflecting pools, and the extensively shaded courtyard is fed by the offices and multi-use spaces surrounding it.
Not if you throw enough cold water on it @lazyreader.
If you go to Hawaii, the Hawaii state capital building has a reflecting pool that reflects……..scum. And bare concrete and open steel does not bode well for Brazil’s hot humid climate.