French-Brazilian architectural studio Triptyque has completed work on Onze 22, a residential tower in São Paulo, Brazil. The building’s design comprises a series of overlapping and suspended slabs, interspersed with glass walls, and presents a contrast to the classic tower blocks found throughout São Paulo.
Onze 22 sits amidst São Paulo’s vast urban fabric, its fluid interior–exterior plan framing 360-degree views of the city. Triptyque designed the building in a manner that “invites users to relate to the city [where] the view composes the spaces as if it were part of the decoration.” Gui Sibaud, a founding partner of Triptyque, says: “Each point on the balcony invites you to observe São Paulo, providing endless views and, at the corners, the possibility of letting your gaze go in different directions.”
Floor-to-ceiling windows ensure that apartments are bathed in natural light. Covered balconies envelop the building, expanding the indoor–outdoor living space and providing shade and protection from intense sunlight. At ground level, six-meter-tall (19.7 feet) pillars raise the building and facilitate interaction with the surrounding nature.
Located in São Paulo’s smart Vila Madalena neighborhood, Onze 22 is next to Praça Rafael Sapienza, a local oasis of trees and vegetation. With its close proximity to the square, Onze 22 emerges as a glass and concrete tree-like edifice. Triptyque’s projects are often an amalgamation of innovation and the environment — a pact between nature and the city. Embracing the concept of “tropicalism”, they are part of an urban condition that takes reality as the starting point from which a new landscape is invented: “the tropical metropolis.”
The landscaping was designed by Rodrigo Oliveira and, in an exercise of continuity, extends Praça Rafael Sapienza’s lush vegetation into the grounds of Onze 22. A building without fences, this tropical garden envelops the ground-level common areas. Lower floors in Onze 22 overlook the square; rising higher, the city of São Paulo spreads out below.
Onze 22 has a total built area of 18,188 square meters (195,774 square feet) and a land area of 2,403 square meters (25,866 square feet).
