Indigo Residences
São Paulo, Brazil

23 stories • Yuny Development

A 23-story residential tower designed for the last developable site in an affluent São Paulo neighborhood, this project is situated between a large scale commercial boulevard and a smaller residential community. A major goal of the project is to gain the support of the local residents for a tower, as the neighborhood consists mostly of detached two-story homes. Additionally, energy reduction in the intense Brazilian sun was important both from a sustainability standpoint and in a market of new owners seeking efficiency and comfort.

The design proposes a system of exterior, operable louvers that screens sun from the living areas on the west while dividing the large facades into smaller units, mitigating the scale change to the surrounding neighborhood. The louvers are mechanically operable from both a central system and from the individual units, adding variation to the façade.  A central system positions louvers for optimal solar control based on time of day and season while tenants have an override to control views or gain privacy.  The design places groups of framed louvers in larger sets of three stories to provide scale while local renewable building materials such as fabric and wood are being considered for the louver blades.