The Populos corporate office was set up in the Edifício Módulo Bruxelas building in São Paulo. The project’s main challenge was to connect three underground floors based on a highly diversified office program.
Designed by Superlimão
Photographed by Maíra Acayaba
The architectural project was conceptualized based on the company’s own concept of exposed technology use. To achieve this goal, complete freedom was given from kickoff to achieve the premise of building an "office of the future", constantly focusing on innovation, creation and especially virtual qualities. One of the flagships behind the virtual concept was the use of mirrors of different shapes and levels throughout the entire office, playing with spatial perception and creating a feeling of distorted reality, very common in the virtual world.
One of the client’s main sandbox ideas within the project was using the private outdoor area in the lowest floor (3rd basement level), which had to be designed to accommodate different work and downtime purposes. The treetops and the microclimate created by the garden in the office environment was perfect to envision a spatial arrangement connecting the floors and set up a versatile environment.
The party then sought to develop an internal layout in sectors for certain applications, creating spaces of greater and lower concentration, while ensuring well-being and flexibility across the entire area
In the main entrance (through the 2nd basement), we created a playful feature with a balanced data analysis room and a diagonal mirror reflecting the CPD’s illuminated glass box, a crucial element of the company.
This diagonal alignment stretches throughout the floor and creates the feeling of a divided space with the monochromatic area in floors, ceiling, walls and even the furniture. Neon green was chosen to stand out and create a contrast with the brand’s black and gray.
The area featuring the workstations in the 3rd Basement, which leads to the garden, is marked by the contrast in flooring and ceiling lining made of Trilogiq modular pieces, forming quadrants with acoustic boards and a partition following the same visual, separating this space from the touchdown area, where informal meetings are held. In the 1st Basement, we distributed more workstations with individual modular desks, management and another meeting room.
The outdoor area is what makes this project stand out. Despite being able to seem part of the external area from the office entrance, you’re really taken back by such a unique environment when you make it to the outdoor area.
We placed mirrored tables and countertops to reflect the treetops and the sky, creating the first virtual and futuristic element through reflected and distorted imagery. In this same space, there’s also a phone booth built in a security post with internal acoustic lining, reminiscent of a forest.
The overhead garden area receives the highly anticipated spatial structure among the trees: the Treehouse. This area can be used as a meeting room, a place to work or blow off steam. Made of wood and metal, the Treehouse holds up to 7 people seated and can also be accessed both from the 2nd Basement (through a walkway designed to look like a tree climbing bridge) and from the 1st Basement, through a spiral staircase set in the building.
The project constantly sought to develop spaces to match innovative ways of working: areas with new dynamics to share knowledge and greater use flexibility.
