The design of Ágora MOB, the second building in the Ágora Tech Park complex, connects two levels. The main entrance on Av. Perini cuts through the slope with concrete retaining walls and provides access to the preserved forest. At this level, the triple-height atrium organizes the entrance, vertical circulation, and the multipurpose room. At the upper level, the building continues the north axis, connecting to the elevation of the headquarters building. The walkway offers views of the preserved forest on one side and shops and cafés on the other. The building is enclosed by glass and perforated metal cladding on its east and west façades, with strategic openings marking entrances, common areas, and special rooms. On the north façade, the perforated metal cladding is configured as horizontal sunshades. On the south façade, the glass curtain wall has a varied modulation, creating movement across the façade.
CANOPY
The canopy is conceived as the complex’s main backbone. Its design strengthens the integration of the different programs and users, helping to create a sense of unity throughout the park, even with buildings designed by different architects and/or constructed at different times. With a modular steel structure, it can be implemented in phases, following the construction of subsequent buildings.
The restaurants and cafés in the new building open onto the area beneath the canopy, which functions as a veranda and gathering space overlooking a preserved portion of the Atlantic Forest. The canopy lighting was inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, the 1968 film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, specifically by the composition of linear beams of light arranged randomly and with varying lengths.
BLEACHERS AND PLAZA
At the point where the masterplan’s organizing axes bifurcate, creating a transition between the canopy level and the forest, a large outdoor staircase is proposed within the slope. Through the use of double-depth steps, it also functions as bleachers, creating an amphitheater between Ágora HUB and Building 2 (MOB). At its base, the staircase forms a plaza providing access to the forest. Supported by the bleachers, the plaza can host outdoor events such as lectures and concerts. In everyday situations, it can serve as a place for rest and decompression, with views of the forest and surrounding vegetation.
VOIDS AND VISUAL FOCAL POINTS
Internally, the building is organized pragmatically, with a central corridor and offices occupying the perimeter. The layout is designed to accommodate rooms of different sizes, ranging from 50 m² to 120 m². This pragmatic approach is interrupted along the circulation areas, where voids are introduced to improve environmental comfort and create visual connections. The atrium is the building’s main gathering space, intensifying visual relationships among workers and visitors while strengthening the connection between the interior and exterior.
ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT
The micro-perforated metal skin enveloping the east and west façades filters solar radiation, reducing heat gain while allowing controlled daylight and views from inside to outside. Along the office corridors, the need for staircases to provide emergency escape routes was used as an opportunity to create aligned voids between floors. On the fourth and top floor, the roof is designed to allow natural light to enter and hot air to escape as it rises toward the upper level, creating a stack effect. On the north façade, horizontal sunshades with varying angles protect the building from direct solar radiation. Made from the same micro-perforated metal as the façade skin, they allow filtered daylight to enter while establishing visual unity across the building.
CONSTRUCTION AND PROCESS
As with the first building in the complex, the use of a structural system based on precast components — including foundations and hyperstatic columns — combined with cast-in-place elements, such as retaining walls and ribbed slabs, and with the extensive use of industrialized building components throughout the building, enabled a fast and predominantly dry construction process.
