Beacon's project is the combination of an innovative pedagogical project with a built heritage in an old industrial neighborhood in the central area of São Paulo. The school's program supports, approximately, one hundred students from elementary to high school. All of them accommodated in an inclusive space that offers the entire specific structure for each cycle and allows the integration among different ages' students. The integration proposal goes beyond: it encourages the permanent approchement between students, teachers, coordinators and employees. The property is composed by an industrial shed complex, now in disuse. On the one hand, the sheds are rustic and giant for the scale of the children. On the other hand, they represent a generous and fairly solid built heritage.

Beacon School's new headquarters, São Paulo SP Brasil, 2016. Architects Vinicius Andrade, Marcelo Morettin, Marcelo Maia Rosa and Renata Andrulis / Guido Otero and Ricardo Gusmão (authors) / Andrade Morettin Arquitetos / Gusmão Otero Arquitetos Associados
Foto / photo Nelson Kon

The proposal seeks the idea of making full use of this built heritage and, from this monumental structure, introduces new elements capable of accommodating the specific activities of the school and simultaneously introducing the appropriate scale and the finishing materials in order to tame the space. All the new elements are built with light industrial components, such that the assembly of these will take place in the local, clearly opposing to the existing sheds, thus establishing a frank dialogue between the preexisting and the new.

Beacon School's new headquarters, São Paulo SP Brasil, 2016. Architects Vinicius Andrade, Marcelo Morettin, Marcelo Maia Rosa and Renata Andrulis / Guido Otero and Ricardo Gusmão (authors) / Andrade Morettin Arquitetos / Gusmão Otero Arquitetos Associados
Foto / photo Nelson Kon

ficha técnica

project
Beacon School's new headquarters

place
São Paulo SP Brasil

year
2016

area
Site – 11.7000 m²
Building – 10.600 m²

architecture
Vinicius Andrade, Marcelo Morettin, Marcelo Maia Rosa e Renata Andrulis / Guido Otero e Ricardo Gusmão (authors), Adriane De Luca, Carlos Eduardo Miller, Eduardo Miller, Fernanda Carlovich, Fernanda Mangini, Jaqueline Lessa, Melissa Kawahara e Raphael Souza / Marina Novaes, Marina Pereira e Murilo Zidan (team), Guilherme Torres (trainee) / Andrade Morettin Arquitetos / Gusmão Otero Arquitetos Associados

structure
Stec Engenharia

installations
Gera Engenharia

lighting technique
Godoy Luminotecnia

drainage
Contag Engenharia

acoustics
Alexandre Sresnewsky Acústica e Tecnologia

air conditioning
Willem Scheepmaker & Assoc. Ltda.

landscaping and agronomy
Ricardo Vianna

foundations
Apoio Assessoria e Projeto de Fundações

pavimentação
LPE Engenharia

construction company
Barbara Engenharia e Construtora

furniture design
Novidário

photo
Nelson Kon

awards
Competition for new Beacon School Campus - 1st place, 2016.