Arouche Apartment / guará arquitetura + Vão

+ 18

Text description provided by the architects. The Arouche building, located on the main axis of the famous square of the same name in downtown São Paulo, was completed in 1944. Like many works from that period, it features Modernist influences and a reinforced concrete structure, but its basement hides more evident traces of its historical context. At the time of its opening, it prominently advertised an exclusive “air-raid” shelter connected by two tunnels that extend about 100 meters in opposite directions under the public street, granting access to emergency hatches in the middle of the square. Although the tunnels are now blocked, the shelter remains open, offering a glimpse into the paranoia of the era.