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Architects: Memola Estúdio, Vitor Penha
- Area: 504 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Maíra Acayaba
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Manufacturers: Adérito Preto, Clatt, Dpot, FGE LUMI, Firgal, Potencial Marcenaria, Uniflex
Text description provided by the architects. Estúdio Penha has developed for the reception of the new headquarters of Natura, in Sao Paulo, a project that materializes its essence of well-being and express the dimensions of the Natura brand, considering icons of a contemporary Brazil. A country that is under ongoing construction, but shows identity, strength and a thriving soul, convergence points with Natura.
The project was elaborated in a synesthetic manner, allowing that ambiance, visual, textures, sounds and smells diffuse the thought and the values of the brand. For that, three main concepts in architecture were approached: the line, the mirror and the time.
The line expresses the beginning of everything: it is a simple element, but mutable, dancing and flexible. Imaginary or material. From the line, the movement is made, the creation that rises from it becomes a product; the lines of the life, the thought, the existence. Together, represented by the curtains, the line sets in more complex plots, developing into the plan, becoming expression.
The mirror reflects each face and desire, the different skin colors and the peculiarities of every beauty. Symbolically, it is the pureness and the truth. In our architecture, it is a portal for the innermost being of each person, instigating the curiosity, allowing the self-admiration and self-knowledge, even if for a brief moment, endorses the connection with the beauty expressed in each individuality.
It was essential to materialize the time in an architectural element. By the light and images, we materialized the movement and speed of our days, telling and recording the brand values as a provocation to our eminent future. Concerning the time, it was also necessary to remember that in order to build a future, it is mandatory to look to our roots, our affective memory and the feeling of belonging. The past here is not symbolized by the time that has passed, but by ideas and ideals, anachronisms. A furniture design inspired in the classical modernists bring the elegance and simplicity of a period marked by audacity.
All these elements override and blend themselves, creating hide and seek games. They establish relations among them producing meanings and new possibilities. From the cluster of lines, the screen is made, and the light over this plane result in a “cinema”, to broadcast to the passers-by messages, images and ideas. A provocative project with a strong concept, light but not disposable. A sensorial project with music, smell and textures filled with meanings that catches, by the curious look, this soul that unites Natura and Brazil and creates a self and original image to the brand.
