Fab 40: Culture Complex, Sao Paolo

Herzog & de Meuron's latest project is an ambitious and elegant addition to Brazil’s bustling megatropolis, consolidating key institutions from around Latin America’s largest cultural district into one vast, interconnected space. The complex will add a new 1740-seat dance theatre, a 400-seat experimental theatre, dance and music schools, and a library and museum dedicated to the performing arts.
At night, together with its vertical glass walls, the structure will form a luminescent tapestry across central São Paulo, and potentially be the catalyst for its rebirth. Local officials are looking to the project to bring the area back from the fringe, which may be a tall order for a cultural campus, but if anyone has proven the place-making power of architecture it’s Herzog & de Meuron. The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Step inside this Upper East Side jewel box apartment
This radiant Lexington Avenue home is a harbinger of good things for the Upper East Side, and the latest focus of The Inside Story, our series spotlighting intriguing and innovative interior design
By Anna Solomon Published
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of nature
WOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Is a tiny tattoo the best holiday souvenir? Kimpton Hotels think so
In partnership with Tiny Zaps, Kimpton Hotels is bringing city-inspired tattoo pop-ups to five U.S. locations
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
The new MASP expansion in São Paulo goes tall
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) expands with a project named after Pietro Maria Bardi (the institution's first director), designed by Metro Architects
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
An Upstate Sao Paulo house embraces calm and the surrounding rolling hills
BGM House, an Upstate Sao Paulo house by Jacobsen Arquitetura, is a low, balanced affair making the most of its rural setting
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Step inside the secret sanctuary of Rua Polonia House in São Paulo
Rua Polonia House by Gabriel Kogan and Guilherme Pianca together with Clara Werneck is an urban sanctuary in the bustling Brazilian metropolis
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
São Paulo's Pacaembu stadium gets a makeover: we go behind the scenes with architect Sol Camacho
Pacaembu stadium, a São Paulo sporting icon, is being refurbished; the first phase is now complete, its architect Sol Camacho takes us on a tour
By Rainbow Nelson Published
-
Tour 18 lesser-known modernist houses in South America
We swing by 18 modernist houses in South America; architectural writer and curator Adam Štěch leads the way in discovering these lesser-known gems, discussing the early 20th-century movement's ideas and principles
By Adam Štěch Published
-
Year in review: the top 12 houses of 2024, picked by architecture director Ellie Stathaki
The top 12 houses of 2024 comprise our finest and most read residential posts of the year, compiled by Wallpaper* architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Restoring São Paulo: Planta’s mesmerising Brazilian brand of midcentury ‘urban recycling’
Brazilian developer Planta Inc set out to restore São Paulo’s historic centre and return it to the heyday of tropical modernism
By Rainbow Nelson Published
-
All aboard Casa Quinta, floating in Brazil’s tropical rainforest
Casa Quinta by Brazilian studio Arquipélago appears to float at canopy level in the heart of the rainforest that flanks the picturesque town of Paraty on the coast between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro
By Rainbow Nelson Published