Santos is a busy port serving the state capital, the metropolis of São Paulo. Until now, there was no museum of modern art, so the project of the corresponding institution was commissioned by Mendes da Rocha, who, as usual, hired one of the São Paulo workshops to work.
The new building will be built next to the Benedito Calixto Art Gallery: Benedito Calixto is considered one of the main painters of the region at the turn of the 20th century. His museum is housed in an eclectic mansion of the same period with Art Nouveau decor. This small, but very intricate building will be contrasted with a three-story parallelepiped raised above the ground on supports. The space under the building will become a kind of "square", in bright red volumes there will be a cafe, a museum shop, a ticket office and a wardrobe. The first floor will be occupied by an auditorium, administrative premises and a library, and the two upper tiers will be exhibition halls. To deprive the museum halls of supports, the architects made the longitudinal walls of the building load-bearing (they are separated by 20 m), and they, like the rest of the frame, will be made of steel. The actual wall surfaces will be made of concrete panels.
The total area of the building is 8,180 m2, including an underground garage (3,000 m2). The architects proposed installing solar panels on the roof of the museum, as well as arranging a system for collecting and using "gray" water, but it is not yet clear whether the customer will agree to this costly proposal.
N. F.
