State University of Rio Grande do Sul (UERGS) – Hortênsias Unit

  • Year: 2022
  • Surface: 4450m²
  • Localization: Santa Maria - RS
  • Architecture team : Bruno Rossi / Adriano Bueno / Natalia Bueno / Isabela Slywitch / Rafael Kenzo / João Pedro Tofano / Carolina Dantas
  • Structure consultant: Diogo Valls
  • Renders: Thais Freitas
Project developed for the National Architecture Competition for the new headquarters of the Hortênsias Unit at the State University of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil

Designing a school building is, by nature, a challenge and a privilege. 
Thinking about this program within the urban context is a responsibility. 

The project for the building of the Hortênsias unit of the State University of Rio Grande do Sul took on this challenge, since the land designated for it is located in the center of the city of São Francisco de Paula – RS, a small city. The intervention, therefore, needs to be thought of in light of its scale and urbanity. The land, located at the intersection of José Bonifácio and Três de Outubro streets, presents itself as an opportunity to establish urban relations with two of its sides, creating a connection that goes from the Parish of São Francisco de Paula, located at a higher level, to the small building to be maintained, a heritage site of the municipality, located at a lower level.

Therefore, the initial idea of ​​the project was to insert it into the system of urban open spaces, with the creation of these unbuilt spaces being the drivers of the program's organization. In this way, an axis was created that establishes a physical and visual connection, through a generous staircase, between the square on Rua José Bonifácio to the level of the existing heritage site, with direct access to R. Três de Outubro. Programs for public or collective use were organized along this axis, such as the auditorium and its foyer, canteen and secretariats. This new internal square highlights the preserved building, whose construction, now stripped of its annexes, returns to its original form and gains a new dynamic of use by housing the academic directory, meeting place and reception for students. 

If this internal square at Rua Três de Outubro has the vocation and intention of a public space, access from Rua José Bonifácio, close to the corner, establishes the entrance to the university through a ramp that extends from the newly created square, a space conquered from the old carriage road. This quota is reserved, to a large extent, for generous access, transit and stay of students and employees, with the exception of the section occupied by laboratories, whose need to dispose of waste produced leads to proximity to the street. The other programs are organized in two sheets transversal to the space of the internal square on the ground floor, in a gradation of programs according to the need for access to staff, students and teachers. On the first floor are student programs for collective use and administrative rooms. Above them, the larger rooms accompanied by teachers' offices and meeting rooms and, finally, on the top floor, the smaller rooms plus the coworking and decompression space, which occupy the entire floor of the East section, seeking to be a balcony that looks out over the city. The two blades positioned in this way create a facade along the entire surface of the lot facing the R. José Bonifácio square, composing its landscape construction and, at the same time, turning eyes towards the public space. In the opposite direction, the building looks over the houses of the city's historic center and subtly announces itself over the low-rise buildings on Av. Júlio de Castilhos.
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