Canary

Superlimão designed the headquarters of Canary, an investment firm focused on fostering technology companies that are starting up in Brazil, and Atlantico, a fund focused on startups in Latin America. The companies occupy a building measuring approximately 350m2 in Pinheiros, São Paulo. Seeking to combine the welcoming nature of a young audience typical of startups with the seriousness of financial transaction environments, the office design stands out for its use of bold colors – bringing different sensations to the entrance, kitchen and meeting rooms – and for its ceiling with fabrics on a calendered metal structure that also supports the spotlights. The ceiling sought to solve the acoustic problem caused by the high ceiling, and was designed especially for the project, inspired by a bird's nest. One of the project's major challenges was to adapt the building, which previously housed an art gallery, to the client's program: several meeting rooms and versatility in the spaces to accommodate workstations and spaces for events of different profiles. The previous layout had a ground floor with double-height ceilings and exposed slabs, a mezzanine, a backyard and an outbuilding at the back, used as a storage room, as well as a bathroom area that gave access to the backyard. Therefore, it was necessary to create new areas for meeting rooms and the proposal was to build these environments using the overhead space of the ceiling and the existing structure of the outbuilding. In total, 5 meeting rooms were created, two of them close to the entrance – ground floor and first floor – which receive natural light from the street facade. The problem was to prevent the new construction from obstructing the lighting of the main hall, and glass was used as a closing solution. Following the first rooms, there is a multipurpose space prepared for events that require versatility, from happy hours to the accommodation of temporary workstations for startups in development. The pantry was built in the area with the lowest ceilings, open to the hall and with the possibility of being closed off with curtains, in line with the proposal for flexibility, and an auxiliary pantry was designed as support. Two acoustically treated phone rooms are located near the kitchen, and the bathroom was renovated, including a disabled bathroom and a redesign of materials and finishes. In the outdoor area, the program called for a work and social area for employees to hold happy hours with clients. To this end, specific landscaping interventions were made, with the inclusion of a retractable awning and wall panels designed by the artist Lanó. The annex is a focal point in the backyard, where an upper floor was created to add a large meeting room.