Creative Technical School SENAC

The project’s implantation strategy offers a “pause” in the linear occupation along Avenida ACM by organizing the program vertically, freeing up the land for the creation of a public plaza at the entrance of the building. This plaza welcomes visitors, facilitates the organization and control of access to the building’s various functions, and presents itself as a new public space for the city. The dissolution of visible barriers between the street and the interior of the lot reinforces the gesture of urban kindness, while the lowering of the ground floor level in relation to the sidewalk brings the building closer to the surrounding “ground,” symbolically bringing SENAC closer to its most important element: the user.

The layout of the complex allows for the visualization of the terrain’s slope from the avenue, visually integrating the Alto do Saldanha community into the surrounding landscape composition. By concentrating the program in a single tower and setting it back from the perimeter of the lot, this strategy also creates the necessary empty space to transform SENAC into a new visual landmark for the region, regardless of its height in relation to its neighbors. The asymmetric displacement of the tower in relation to the lot boundaries directly relates to the desired view of the Joventino Silva Park.

The program is organized vertically through a tower with approximately 5,000 square meters. Its structure uses two complementary systems: concrete and steel. The choice and application of each type of structure are directly related to the functions and needs of the program’s components, linking the search for the building’s constructive efficiency to the institution’s image.

The first three levels of the building comprise its “public” program, consisting of functions open to the general community: the ground floor plaza, the café, and the auditorium. Therefore, these areas are located on the lower levels of the tower, closer to the ground floor, facilitating access. This space also has the greatest need for large free spans, and thus, these three floors and the garages have a reinforced concrete structure. The higher levels of the tower accommodate the parts with restricted access, housed within a metal structural “grid.”