Art 132 Gallery | Piratininga Arquitetos Associados

Art 132 Gallery, The desire for an art gallery

A unique art gallery

Among many properties for sale, a house

An architecturally intriguing house

A district in transformation

A diversified neighborhood

The commission for remodeling a house to transform it into an art gallery brought some requirements: technical demands for the exhibition activities and the collection, expectations of a place for cultural meetings, a grand piano, the comfort of services, and emphasis on a tropical garden.

It was up to the architecture to interpret the owners’ needs and expectations. The method began with our own projects for exhibition spaces (museums, libraries, art galleries) and other authors and, necessarily, research historical references to the architecture of the house.

The starting step was an accurate dimensional and technical features survey, prospecting to identify the original structure. Being aware of the comprehensive context creates conditions and opportunities for new uses.

With technique and sensitivity, we captured the virtues of a former house to transform it into an art gallery, as commissioned:

The studies confirmed the consistency of the architectural guidelines for the new program inside and outside the building. And the key to the project was the ceiling, interpreted as a reference to position the different environments. Exposing the concrete of these structures high above enhanced the resulting forms below them.

The exhibition rooms are distributed along the boundary wall, visually uniting the external and internal areas on all floors: a smooth, uniform and the precisely illuminated surface is the support for most of the works of art.

The gardens welcome the sculptures amidst the tropical vegetation. The benches, specially designed for contemplation moments are covered with tiles designed by Noel Marinho. The panel close to the meeting room with its tiles qualifies what would be a simple lateral retreat that becomes the sensorial extension of the room for lunches and meetings, uniting inside and outside.

On the upper floor, the separations between the 3 bedrooms and bathrooms were removed to ensure the breadth of the internal environment and the continuity of the interior-exterior views. The spaces for meetings and enjoyment are distributed on the balcony and in the room on the upper floor to contemplate the exhibition, listen to music next to the grand piano, participate in a lecture or see the works in the collection.

The interventions value the fluidity of circulation, the new meaning of the spaces generated with the renovation, the different lighting scenes, and strengthen the interior-exterior relationship.

In renovation design, the initiatives of preservation, restoration, and recycling of floor covering materials and exposed concrete were successful. Thus, the almost 50-year-old house is renovated in the local scene with its original architecture enhanced by the shapes, colors, and textures of the materials, the accurate lighting, and mainly for the attraction of an art gallery on the street.

Project Info
Architects: Piratininga Arquitetos Associados
Country: Brazil, São Paulo
Area: 2960 ft²
Year: 2021
Photographs: Nelson Kon
Lighting Design: Franco + Berriel
Installations: Ramoska & Castellani
Automation: Bettoni
Visual Identity: Claudio Novaes
Construction Work: Marcírio José dos Reis