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Architects: Arquea Arquitetos
- Area: 495 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Leonardo Finotti
Text description provided by the architects. Located in a culturally noble area of São Paulo, the new address of the SIM + Simões de Assis gallery, opened in 2018, seeks to translate in its architecture the sensitivity / content of contemporary art. The Project consists of renovating the second floor and part of the ground floor of an old dress shop. The owner kept his business spot around the corner and rented the rest to the gallery. The structure of the building was reused, as well as the perforated corrugated sheet cladding, revitalized through a white electrostatic painting.
The gallery's facade has few openings, the main one being the entrance door, which acts as a landmark of the building. The glass gives sight to the pedestrian and arouses interest. The access is at street level, through a small difference in the entrance hall from the rest of the gallery, which creates a connection space between interior and exterior. The ground floor houses the SIM gallery, a space for young innovative artists run by brothers Guilherme and Laura Simões de Assis. The project concentrates the program in a single block, next to the circulation, generating a large and flexible exhibition space, highlighting the works of art, illuminated by spot rails and continuous tubular lighting, orientated by an L profile.
On the second floor is the Simões de Assis art gallery, founded in 1984 by the father of the two brothers. Renowned for representing some of the leading names in Brazilian modern and contemporary art, its interior follows the language of the ground floor, with the program distributed at the edges to maintain the spaciousness of the showroom. The program includes another reception with cabinets for catalog storage; public toilets; a small cup; collection area; office with private bathroom for administrators; an intimate negotiating room and a train storage facility. The choice of materials and light colors, such as the burnt cement floor, the white walls and the cladding in the white sheet metal, aimed to generate spaces of great light reflection. The concept of art as a reflection of the experience of living was explored in architecture and translated into a visual language of clarity and breadth, materializing in the form, the meaning of making art. Art is reflection, it reflects life and the moment, just as white reflects light according to the moment of the day.
