Description of the text provided by the architects. Innovation and integration with nature mark the new headquarters of the Link School of Business, designed by Perkins & Will. The Jardim Paulista corporate garden, a sustainable building for the Link School of Business, impresses with its innovative and distinctive design integrated into nature. Launched at the end of last year, the 9,600 m² building has more than privileged views of the Ibirapuera park and offers students the best experience of the campus and the city of São Paulo.
“The customer asked for the realization of a dream. An environment in which he could feel integrated, which would bring back memories of the place where they started everything, because the new head office is a few steps from the old, on the other side of the avenue”, shares Leandro Gushiken, project architect at Perkins & Will São Paulo.
Surrounded by vegetation and naturally lit, the 8 -storey building establishes a special link with its environment, intensified by garden palates which fill the gap between the exterior and the interior, in a symbiosis between nature and the built environment. While classrooms, administrative spaces, collaboration and concentration areas occupy its perimeter – by drawing the best party of views, ventilation and light -, the central circulation axis connects soils as an invitation to occupy the spaces, more than a simple passage. The Business and Technology College also has laboratories, coffee and an outdoor terrace on its roof.
To reflect the practical and innovative approach of the institution, interior decoration values the truth and efficiency of materials, with exposed concrete pillars, large glass panels and vinyl coatings in elegant and timeless compositions which guarantee good acoustic performance and a visual connection between environments. Another strong point is lighting, designed to highlight the volume and meet the different use requirements. While common areas have panoramic and diffuse lighting, classrooms and study areas incorporate natural and artificial light for user comfort.
Guilherme Menesses, project designer at Perkins & Will, reveals the challenges linked to the development of a project of this type: “Ideas were already beating up while building work was finished. Consequently, we had to create a very well organized reasoning with clear stages to deliver the main fields before the start of the school year.”
The works garden also has important sustainability certifications, such as Edge post-construction and leed gold. Thanks to the measures offered by Edge strategies, the project has reached excellent savings levels in the energy, water and energy categories incorporated into materials. Leed certification recognized it as a healthy green building, very effective and economical, which offers environmental, social and governance advantages.
