There is great expectation that students from Cotuca (Colégio Técnico de Campinas) will return to occupy the historic building on Rua Culto à Ciência in August next year. The announcement was made by Sueli Cardoso, organizer of Campinas Decor, at the opening of the 2019 exhibition in another fully recovered public property, where the old Colégio Ateneu was located, next to Campinas City Hall, on Wednesday night. Cotuca has been operating in rented property in the Taquaral neighborhood since August 2014, due to the closure in February of the same year of the building donated by abolitionist Bento Quirino dos Santos, with a brief interim of activities on the Unicamp campus in Barão Geraldo.
Campinas Decor has been reinforcing its policy of recovering public assets that began in 2003, when it promoted the renovation of the Casarão do Lago do Café, later recovering the Guanabara Station (2008) managed by Unicamp, and the buildings of the Campinas Agricultural Institute ( 2009 and 2010), Estação Cultura (2011), Casa de Vidro (2016) and the headquarters of Fazenda Argentina (2017) acquired by the University. The 2019 edition of the main exhibition of architecture, decoration and landscaping in the interior of São Paulo takes place from April 26th to June 26th, in the historic mansion on Rua Barreto Leme 1515, in the heart of the city, which belongs to the City Hall and is listed by Condepacc ( Campinas Cultural Heritage Defense Council).
Professor Marcelo Knobel, rector of Unicamp, praised the evolution of the concept advocated by the event, imagining the neighborhood's emotion at seeing a building abandoned since the 1990s restored, and highlighted that the decision about Cotuca is the result of many conversations. “When we left Culto à Ciência street, all the stores and parking lots closed, the surrounding area was quite dilapidated. We have already spoken with City Hall to take advantage of the moment and recover that area. Cotuca is a historic building, considered one of Ramos Azevedo's most important projects and will truly represent another great benefit from Campinas Decor for our city – and it will be one of the biggest challenges, because the building is gigantic and complex.”
In total, around R$18,5 million has already been invested in improvements to these historic buildings in Campinas, shared between the event organizers, exhibitors, sponsors and suppliers. The Barreto Leme mansion, in its 3.600 square meters and 1.400 of original built area, houses 48 internal and external environments, prepared by renowned professionals in the sector in the city and region, showing the trends and the most modern in decorative items and construction, coatings, furniture, lighting, home automation and everything that involves this universe.
To prepare for the exhibition, organizers and exhibitors recovered floors and coverings, repaired roofs, doors and windows and modernized the hydraulic and electrical networks, works that consumed approximately R$2 million of the R$7 million for the assembly of the edition, also divided with sponsors and suppliers. The work involved an army of professionals – architects, landscapers, engineers, artists, bricklayers, painters, gardeners, carpenters and delivery people. At peak times, the place brought together 500 people at the same time. 1.500 direct jobs were created and another 150 for the opening of the exhibition to the public. More than 30 visitors are expected to attend.
Tribute
Campinas Decor 2019 reserves a space specially created to pay tribute to Stella Maria Leite Pastana Tozo, a businesswoman who has led the exhibition for the last 17 years, alongside Sueli Cardoso. She passed away in November 2018. At the opening ceremony, Mayor Jonas Donizette signed a decree assigning the name Stella Pastana Tozo to the recovered property, where the Municipal Education Department will operate. Also at the ceremony, rector Marcelo Knobel and Sueli Cardoso signed the “Memorandum of Understanding” between Unicamp and Campinas Decor regarding the improvement works on Cotuca’s infrastructure for the 2020 edition.
