Forma Store
São Paulo, Brazil · 1987
Photo · Photo by Nelson Kon
A premier precedent of Brazilian Brutalism demonstrating how a monumental, opaque concrete volume can be cantilevered to create a continuous, floating ribbon window for a commercial showroom.
- What we like about this project
- The massive scale of the 'forma' typography painted directly onto the concrete panel joints.
Materials
- concrete-panels
- steel
- glass
- monolithic-concrete
Visual identifiers
- floating-concrete-volume
- horizontal-ribbon-window
- supergraphics
- cantilevered-mass
- showroom-facade
Style tags
- brutalist
- modernist
- brazilian-modernism
Visual tags
- brutalist
- brazilian-modernism
- structural-expressivism
- commercial-showroom
- monolithic
- cantilever
- Geometry
- A massive, elevated rectangular concrete volume floats above a continuous horizontal glass band, supported by recessed structural elements.
- Facade system
- Suspended precast concrete panels over a steel-framed ribbon window.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete portal frames with deep cantilevers supporting suspended facade panels.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale commercial storefront with a monumental concrete facade and a human-scaled pedestrian/car entry level below.
- Lighting
- Dusk ambient light with intense, warm interior illumination spilling out from the continuous horizontal display window.
- Atmosphere
- Dramatic and imposing, where the heavy concrete mass is dematerialized by a glowing band of interior light.
- Environmental context
- Urban roadside setting with commercial signage and adjacent buildings visible under a twilight sky.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a heavy, opaque upper mass that hovers dramatically over a highly transparent, brightly lit showroom strip, creating a stark contrast between weight and lightness.
- Composition rhythm
- A massive solid upper block contrasted against a continuous, uninterrupted horizontal void of glass.
- Style reading
- Brazilian Brutalist Modernism
- Program
- Furniture showroom and retail store
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete-panels, steel, glass, monolithic-concrete
- Visual identifiers
- floating-concrete-volume, horizontal-ribbon-window, supergraphics, cantilevered-mass, showroom-facade
- Style tags
- brutalist, modernist, brazilian-modernism
- Visual tags
- brutalist, brazilian-modernism, structural-expressivism, commercial-showroom, monolithic, cantilever
- Geometry
- A massive, elevated rectangular concrete volume floats above a continuous horizontal glass band, supported by recessed structural elements.
- Facade system
- Suspended precast concrete panels over a steel-framed ribbon window.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete portal frames with deep cantilevers supporting suspended facade panels.
- Spatial scale
- Large-scale commercial storefront with a monumental concrete facade and a human-scaled pedestrian/car entry level below.
- Lighting
- Dusk ambient light with intense, warm interior illumination spilling out from the continuous horizontal display window.
- Atmosphere
- Dramatic and imposing, where the heavy concrete mass is dematerialized by a glowing band of interior light.
- Environmental context
- Urban roadside setting with commercial signage and adjacent buildings visible under a twilight sky.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a heavy, opaque upper mass that hovers dramatically over a highly transparent, brightly lit showroom strip, creating a stark contrast between weight and lightness.
- Composition rhythm
- A massive solid upper block contrasted against a continuous, uninterrupted horizontal void of glass.
- Style reading
- Brazilian Brutalist Modernism
- Program
- Furniture showroom and retail store
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture