AUÁ arquitetos office
Having a groundfloor office, related to the sidewalk, introduces some conditions that makes it similar to daily retail business on the street level. AUÁ arquitetos office, located at Maringá city center presents itself as showcase to the street: transparent and permeable to the sight.
The 38m² chamber was organized using a single volume made of OSB panels that it spread from the façade to the bottom of the room, by bending itself to configure different spaces with a low cost solution.
The bleachers rises up right at the front, turned to the sidewalk, a versatile area that can be used as meeting room or reading and conversation space. From there it is possible to contemplate the street life, watching people and vehicles passing at its own rhythms throughout the day. With its central doors opened, the space between the bleachers and the glass façade becomes a sidewalk enlargement, softening the inside and outside limits.
To keep going on it is necessary to climb a few steps and walk through the ‘catwalk library’ over the desktop to reach the scullery. A single element, the floor, is also a desk and a seating space. It is also possible to shift part of the bleachers by putting it under the architectural modeling desk, integrating the workspaces and providing accessibility conditions. Unlike the traditional furniture concept that separates the stepping, seating and working surfaces, this office proposal is a unique wooden volume that invites people to move around the space and interact directly with it, enjoying the surprises created by stepping levels transitions and experiencing the architecture from different points of view.
Looking up we see an OSB panels grid that fits the whole ceiling space, hang up by steel beams and cables. Its function is to shorten the high room height, turning it into a more cozy space and creating interesting light effects through day and night.
Three bike stops were installed near the street corner, offering the city and its people some more infrastructures to non-polluting transportation, an increasing demand in Brazil nowadays.
An informal ambience was conceived either inside or outside the room, as a place for people to stay, to seat, to talk, to enjoy. A space of multiple possibilities, opened to people’s free thought and creativity flow.
It is allowed to climb the desk.
