U-NIO

Catholic University of Pernambuco/UNICAP

Project idea

Urban life is increasingly demanding complex planning and studies. The functionality of cities has become an issue in these media mainly thanks to their close relationship with social cohesion and opportunities for social interactions. In this sense, the magazine A + T launched an edition about complex buildings that arise due to the social demand that a building must meet, incorporated into design and technology.

Through the concepts presented in Revista A + T, it is possible to better understand the importance of discussing urban complexity, of studying new urban fabrics, patterns and technologies. The relevance of a building that has this complexity goes beyond construction.

The power to generate, mix, tell stories and connect, makes the project a living being capable of changing the environment in which it is inserted at various levels.

Thus, from these precepts, U-NIO was born as a proposal that aims to transform the context in which it is inserted. As it is a low-income community, in which there is a lack of basic resources for human existence, the building is implanted and designed to meet this social demand, as can be better understood in the description of the project below.

Project description

The context

The land chosen for the implementation of the new equipment is located in the neighborhood of Caixa D’Água in Olinda (Pernambuco / Brazil), which is characterized by being a region of hills, in which 90% of the buildings are for residential use.

It is possible to perceive a great vegetative mass composing the landscape integrated with the dwellings. Significant portions of green areas are identified on the banks of the Beberibe River (densely occupied place close to the land), on some hillsides and there is also a large reserve of Atlantic forest within the land itself.

The hill areas, as already mentioned, are the largest part of the territory and, because they are farther from the main perimeter roads, they have a low diversity of uses.

Thus, due to the issue of social vulnerability and the needs of the region, the project idea is to create an Integral Campus of UNICAP (Catholic University of Pernambuco) in this land with about 75 hectares, with a program that contains a structure related to health, education and work, spirituality, law, citizenship, services and ecology.



Retreat House of the Jesuit Company

Within the grounds there is a building of extreme historical importance which is the Retreat House of the Jesuit Company. It is a building with 3 floors, 78 rooms (15 of which are suites), shared bathrooms in two aisles on all floors, 2 lounges, 5 rooms with different sizes, dining room, kitchen, pantry, outside lounge, chapel, courtyard, court volleyball and soccer field.



Architectural Design Approach

In the development of the complex building, the concept of architectural system used by Montaner in the work Contemporary Architectural Systems (2009) was used as a project reference. Thus, the author says that the architectural object goes beyond its individuality, it adapts to the context, uses its functional and interconnected parts. The building is not isolated, its architectural scale is made in urban morphology.

In his work, the author speaks of minimalism as a system made up of pure, open and light forms. Here the building has a timeless essence, which develops a unique ability to understand the context. In this sense, landscape minimalism represents the project at the scale of the city and the landscape, where architecture, in addition to being able to become an instrument for transforming the environment, is inserted as a shelter for all human beings.

In this way, joining this system to the theme of Complex Buildings, it was thought to develop a connector system, which within the minimalist principles (Montaner, 2009) portrays an architecture that welcomes and integrates in parallel with the landscape scale.

So the idea is to start from a connector element that already exists on the land, the retreat house’s courtyard, and expand it to its surroundings.

Technical information

In order to preserve the trees and integrate with the existing building, the implantation was carried out close to the hillside area and the retreat house. In addition, there was also a concern to connect the entire terrain, in this way flows from corner to corner were created on the site.

One of the objectives was also to insert the volumetry respecting the topography, making the least possible changes in the area. Thus, the final volumetry creates living spaces for contemplating the landscape in which the building is inserted.

In the spatial organization, the spaces were arranged aiming at the fluidity, integration, permeability and practicality of the environments, mainly through the use of metallic frames and wooden structures as dividing elements of the spaces.

As the program has a library and dormitories, both to support local students and for migrants and refugees. Thus, in addition to seeking to add the retreat home to the project, the building's advantageous spatial organization was used to zone the environments and make a preliminary study of internal spatial organization.

In relation to the structure, a mixed structural system was chosen, with a concrete base that supports a vieerendel metal beam. In order to obtain the most free space possible, the support of a metallic tusses between the largest vieerendel beam was also used. To close this volume, we opted for a microclimatic tensioned skin that rests on the structure through metal profiles and welds.