#mnma

Dois Trópicos in São Paulo, Brazil,

Selo Store, São Paulo, Brazil,

Dois Trópicos in São Paulo, Brazil,

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What makes something unique beyond exclusivity? Genuine beyond emulation and reproduction? 

In Dois Tropicos, the limit between an architectural project and its production becomes incredibly thin and osmotic, emerging into a result where empiric experimentation and calibrated architectonic decisions always fuel and impact each other.

It is impossible to separate the entire planning and construction processes from the final result. Built spaces transmit the impression that all is made out of the same matter.

The warm and calming earthy tones of walls and floors are results of slow and artisanal processes: made one by one, naturally pigmented sunburnt bricks join the walls, covered with sprayed soil coming from two different northern Brazilian regions, creating an overwhelming yet soothing sensation. Some perceptions cannot be forged, it’s the process surfacing in the result. 

The concrete spiral staircase, built on-site with wooden leftover planks from the construction, has no intention of reproducing the perfect curve of a technical drawing, or the immaculate shapes of prefabricated ones. 

Suddenly all the little imperfections, irregularities, and human interventions proudly exhibit their genuineness and physical limits, essential for this project to work as a whole.

Through a polycarbonate entrance door, the last rigorously calculated interface remaining of the chaotic and technological city, the natural illumination guides us throughout the spaces, creating alternating lights and shadows over the surfaces throughout the day. The path an almost ancestral passage, this time circular, leads to an unexpected bright patio. The sensation of calmness continues to permeate through all the elements, now infused with a more brilliant light and joined by gravel of a warm sandy tone. The darker wood contrasts harmoniously with the environment.

MNMA shows that true singularity is something else and that it is achievable, not through precisely calculated design or illimited natural resources, but through combinations of techniques, processes, and people relegated to the past, while being incredibly close to us.

Dois Tropicos is not just a manifest, but the tangible consequence of a sensible dialogue between different sources of knowledge and a clear, yet mutable vision. 

All images by André Klotz