Unicamp Architecture and Urban Planning students Leonardo Botene and Mateus Paulichen won two competitions in the area, with a vertical building project based on sustainability principles. Prepared during an undergraduate course, the project, called In Vitro, addresses concerns about climate change and proposes innovation, using cross-laminated wood in the structure. The winning competitions were Go and come, 2020 edition, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), aimed at projects that took into account the challenges imposed by the pandemic, and the competition from the Brazilian Association of Architecture Teaching, which in the last edition considered concerns about the future of cities.
The building was designed for a plot of land on Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, an important economic center in the city of São Paulo. According to the students, the building is intended for mixed use, with residences and offices, an idea that stems from the need to have less travel in cities. Additionally, a vertical farm permeates the entire building. The proposal for urban cultivation arose from concerns about food production and the impacts associated with transport, which was strengthened in the project due to the context of the pandemic. “Producing food in urban areas is sustainable in the sense of not having to transport food and supporting local commerce”, explains Leonardo Botene, who also indicates the importance of analyzing the entire cycle of use of a material to have a project consistent with what is proposed.
By using cross-laminated wood as a material for the structure, a more ecological option, Leonardo highlights that, as it is still an incipient material in Brazil, it is important to encourage local production to minimize the effects of transportation. “That's why encouraging the search for local production is also important, so that we can not only propose a sustainable material, but also that its use does not make what it proposes unfeasible. We want to encourage this now so that we can have viability in the future,” he says.
As it is a vertical building, works that are more permanent in cities, the students also point out that studying the possible impacts of the building was central. “Vertical buildings are difficult to build and difficult to tear down. In this context of being a work that will remain in the city for a long time and within the context of innovation, which emerged through the use of a material little used in Brazil, we designed a building thinking about issues of the future, bringing not only this innovative construction technique, but also an important discussion about new ways of living”, explains Mateus Paulichen.
For the student, the possibility of exploring techniques that are still little used during undergraduate courses encourages innovation. “Unicamp, with a technological and innovation bias, puts us in a pioneering position in several aspects of our training and this is very important”.
Discipline included a visiting professor
Professor Gabriela Celani, responsible for the verticalities discipline, during which the project was developed, explains that the class methodology included a theoretical program and the development of projects. As competitions in the area of architecture are common, the final part of the course involved the presentation of projects to a jury. The evaluators were invited by the architect Savio Jobim, who also taught the subject together with the teacher, through the Visiting Specialist Professor Program. The program proposes to bring to Unicamp professionals with renowned knowledge in their area of expertise.
Savio Jobim is an architect at the international firm Triptyque Architecture and is one of the professionals responsible for the first wooden building project in Brazil. Furthermore, Gabriela points out that the architect added a lot of knowledge of legislation to the students. For the teacher, the exchange of experiences provided by the program provided an important dialogue. “It brings a vision of reality, of what is possible to do when they graduate. This program was created for this, to allow us to complement the students’ training with people who have a vision of what happens outside the university”, she says. She also highlights that students from the Teaching Internship Program (PED) Filipe Campos and Verley Côco Jr. and the Didactic Support Program (PAD) Rafael Kenzo, providing further exchanges of knowledge.
Regarding the proposal to use wood as a structure, the teacher comments that it began to be introduced to students in 2019 and having an architect who works with this material in classes added even more knowledge. She highlights the benefits of using this material. “We started introducing the construction system with wood since 2019 because it is a very contemporary new technology. With engineered wood it is possible to make very tall buildings with it as the main structure. We cannot continue depleting natural resources as we have been depleting them, especially with steel and concrete. Wood appears as an alternative as a renewable material and, above all, it sequesters carbon”, she assesses.
Check out the presentation of the In Vitro project here
