Campinas Decor and Unicamp promoted on the morning of this Monday, February 22nd, the ceremony of handing over the infrastructure works of the Cotuca building (Colégio Técnico de Campinas) due to the use permission agreement signed between the organization of the exhibition of architecture, decoration and landscaping and the university to hold the 25th anniversary edition of the event in the historic property located on Rua Culto à Ciência.
The ceremony, restricted to a few guests due to precautions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was attended by the rector of Unicamp, Marcelo Knobel, and the director of Campinas Decor, Sueli Cardoso, as well as representatives from the university, Cotuca and sponsors of the event. The ceremony will be shown to the community during a live broadcast scheduled for March 5th at 16pm, broadcast on the Imprensa Unicamp YouTube channel, when it will be possible to check out the improvements made to the building.
According to the official calendar, the 25th edition of the architecture, decoration and landscaping exhibition would have been held in May and June 2020, but due to the pandemic the date is suspended and will only be defined when the moment is considered safe. Campinas Decor and Unicamp reinforce their commitment to holding the event and the intention for it to take place in 2021.
Campinas Decor 25 years will feature around 60 internal and external environments prepared by renowned professionals in the sector in the city and region, showcasing trends and the most modern in decoration items, coverings, furniture, lighting, home automation and everything what this universe involves. The public will be able to see several rooms, suites, apartments, lofts, bathrooms and terraces, as well as gardens and commercial spaces for use by visitors, following all protocols defined by health authorities.
The property's characteristics, such as the high ceilings and large spaces, make the property the perfect setting for professionals to unleash their creativity and showcase their styles to visitors. The finalization of the spaces for the public exhibition will only be carried out when this date is defined, but the structural work on the building has already been carried out, as well as much of the work to prepare the spaces.
Thanks to the agreement signed between Campinas Decor and Unicamp, the property with a total area of almost 7 thousand square meters was renovated and modernized so that student activities can return to the location after the end of the exhibition. In total, an investment of R$ 12 million is estimated in the restoration of the building and preparation of the exhibition, shared between the organization, exhibitors, sponsors and suppliers.
“This moment is of great importance for us, as we were pleased to facilitate the recovery of a heritage of such great value to the municipality”, says the director of Campinas Decor, Sueli Cardoso.
“The partnership with Campinas Decor allowed us to recover and requalify a fundamental space, not only for Unicamp, but for the history of Campinas. We managed to jointly restore a historic building, which will once again house Unicamp's Technical College, our beloved Cotuca, from the moment the exhibition closes”, stated the university's rector, Marcelo Knobel.
“Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the exhibition had to be postponed, but the renovation of the entire building and the entire infrastructure is already ready, and it is important to celebrate this moment with the school community, as well as with the whole of society”, adds Knobel .
The roof, which was one of the main structural problems that led to the building's closure in 2014, was redone, maintaining only the original beams and replacing the slats and tiles and installing panels and blankets to increase thermal comfort.
The electrical part was completely remodeled, with the replacement of wiring and the construction of a new cabin to increase the energy capacity supplied and meet the demand of the school's laboratories.
Considering the demands for the school's operation, new bathrooms were also built, in addition to work being carried out to adapt the kitchen and eating area.
The issue of accessibility received special attention, with the installation of a panoramic elevator connecting the two floors of the main building and the construction of several access ramps throughout the area.
Also noteworthy is the restoration of the building's facade, which had the old layers of paint removed and was repainted in a color similar to that used previously, and the extensive restoration work on all the doors and windows, which are an attraction in themselves when you look at speaks to the beauty of the building. The work also involved the restoration of all floors and coverings.
“Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved – including our exhibitors, partners and sponsors – we are returning to Campinas society a completely restored building with numerous improvements and the use of modern technologies and resources available in the architecture and construction market”, says Sueli Cardoso.
In addition to the organization and the architects, decorators and landscapers who participate in the event as exhibitors, the work to conserve the building and prepare the exhibition involved a veritable army of professionals, such as bricklayers, painters, carpenters and electricians. Due to the pandemic, processes were readjusted to ensure everyone's safety, with the adoption of protocols limiting the number of people present in each environment, reinforced hygiene and provision of alcohol gel for workers, among others.
The 25th anniversary edition of Campinas Decor is sponsored by Sensia (incorporator of MRV), Suvinil, Engetax, Deca, Leo Sob Medida, Guardian Glass and Cyberglass, Campseg and Hunter Douglas and support by C&C, Duratex, Tecprag and MBM. The event also has as official suppliers the companies Kosten – Haus, Portobello, Cosentino and Colégio Adventista.
historical heritage
Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the “Bento Quirino” Building complex was ceded by the Department of Education for use by Unicamp and housed the Technical College of Campinas from 1967 to 2014. It is a grandiose construction listed as a Historical Heritage site, with an orientation eclectic style with a neoclassical tendency, designed by engineer-architect Francisco de Paula Ramos de Azevedo (1851-1928), considered responsible for introducing new concepts for the organization of school architecture in light of republican teaching ideals.
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.
Tradition in restoring public buildings
Campinas Decor reinforces its policy of recovering public heritage buildings to return them to society. The Cotuca edition will be the ninth to be held in a publicly owned building and the third in partnership with Unicamp. The first double deal with the university took place in 2008, at Estação Guanabara, of which Unicamp is a borrower. The old station building was completely restored and now houses the CIS-Guanabara – Cultural Center for Inclusion and Social Integration. In 2018, the event recovered the buildings of Fazenda Argentina, acquired by the university for expansion purposes, and which after the renovation began to be used by the university to set up the office of its innovation agency and startup companies.
In addition to the buildings mentioned, Campinas Decor has already recovered the Casarão do Lago do Café (2003), the Campinas Agronomic Institute (in the 2009 and 2010 editions, in different locations), the Estação Cultura (2011), the Casa de Vidro, also in Lago do Café (2016) and in 2019, the building famous for having housed the old Colégio Ateneu, belonging to the city hall. The works carried out allowed countless activities to be carried out in these locations, always for the benefit of the population.
