The headquarters of Fazenda Argentina, belonging to Unicamp, was “returned” to the University this Wednesday afternoon (3) by Caminas Decor, after serving in the architecture, decoration and landscaping exhibition promoted by the company. The property was completely restored and the improvements were donated to the institution. In total, the event's organizers, exhibitors and suppliers invested R$2,5 million in carrying out improvements to the buildings, which included restoring floors and coverings, repairing and installing roofs, doors and windows and redesigning the hydraulic and electrical networks. Rector Marcelo Knobel announced that the first Unicamp body to occupy the reinvigorated space will be the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency.
The return of the Fazenda Argentina headquarters to Unicamp was made official through the signing of an agreement between the University and Campinas Decor. Dean Marcelo Knobel highlighted the importance of the partnership with the private sector, which made it possible to restore a property that was completely dilapidated. “The University would not have the resources to carry out these works at this time. The renovation was excellent and left the space ready to be occupied. We initially considered bringing the headquarters of the Museum of Visual Arts here, but this proved to be unfeasible at this time. Therefore, after consultation with Inova, it was decided that the agency will be the first Unicamp body to set up shop here,” he announced.
The idea, according to the head of the Executive Board of Integrated Planning (Depi), professor Marco Aurélio Pinheiro Lima, is for an innovation and entrepreneurship hub to be installed at the site, which will also have the presence of a startup incubator. Professor Newton Frateschi, executive director of Inova Unicamp, said that the expectation is that the agency will move to the headquarters of Fazenda Argentina at the beginning of next year. “In addition to Inova, other areas of the University should come here, but we are still analyzing the issue”, added rector Marcelo Knobel.
Social commitment
The realization of Campinas Decor at Fazenda Argentina, acquired by Unicamp for future expansion plans, was possible due to the use permission agreement signed between the University and the Campinas Decor organization. The aim of the term was cooperation between the University and the private sector for the conservation of the property. Campinas Decor partner, Stella Pastana Tozo, stated that the partnership reinforced the company's vocation of donating improvements made to public heritage buildings. Throughout its history, the event has left as a legacy for Campinas society the recovery of several properties that, after renovation, start to be used for the benefit of the population.
The 2018 exhibition was the seventh held in a publicly owned building and the second in partnership with Unicamp. The first collaboration with the University took place in 2008, at Guanabara Station, of which Unicamp is a lender. The old station building was completely restored and now houses the Cultural Center for Inclusion and Social Integration (CIS-Guanabara). In addition to Estação Guanabara, Campinas Decor has already recovered the Casarão do Lago do Café (2003), the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (in the 2009 and 2010 editions, in different locations), the Estação Cultura (2011) and the Casa de Vidro, also at Lago do Café (2016), opened in September 2017 by the city hall as a cultural center.
Sueli Cardoso, also a partner at Campinas Decor, mentions other fruits of the partnerships made. “It is extremely gratifying to be able to see, for example, the transformation of Guanabara Station, which spent years in total deterioration, having even been home to drug users, and currently hosts numerous actions to benefit the population”, she pointed out.
