{"id":106274,"date":"2026-07-21T20:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/106274\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:12:18","slug":"sao-paulos-lausanne-building-revival-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/106274\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e3o Paulo’s Lausanne Building Revival Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

On most sunny S\u00e3o Paulo weekends, amateur photographers can be found snapping the multicoloured shutters of the Lausanne building downtown. While residents within this towering apartment block admit to feeling a little uncomfortable from all the attention, they\u2019re also partly to blame. The snappers are here to try their hand at capturing the glory of a building designed in 1958 by German-Brazilian architect Adolf Franz Heep, which has recently been reinvigorated by its tenants.<\/p>\n

The restoration work included fixing magnificent mosaics, replanting multiple flowerbeds and the careful repainting of a mural by Brazilian artist Cl\u00f3viz Graciano that adorns the building\u2019s curved entrance walls. It has all been co-funded by a group of residents. Without their support \u201cnone of this work would be possible\u201d, says Regina Ponte, who has led the project and collects monthly maintenance payments from those who live here. She moved into the Lausanne building in 1996 when this neighbourhood, bordering upscale Higien\u00f3polis, had lost the sheen of its mid-century heyday and become a scrappy corner of the city centre.<\/p>\n

Ponte saw beauty in the faded hues of Lausanne\u2019s colourful system of window shutters that gracefully covers its fa\u00e7ade (today resplendent in fresh pastel reds, greens and creams). She made it her mission to convince tenants that it was time to restore this modernist marvel and started raising the funds to do so. She\u2019s a stickler for detail (her day job is state museum director for S\u00e3o Paulo and chief co-ordinator of museum preservation) and more than two decades after her arrival, her hard work has paid off.<\/p>\n

\"CurvedSimple stairwell<\/p>\n

\"ModernistColourful system of window shutters<\/p>\n

\"AndresAndres Schipani and Alejandra Mejia <\/p>\n

\"ASchipani\u2019s study <\/p>\n

\"ModernistLiving room with \u2018winter terrace\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Cl\u00f3vizCl\u00f3viz Graciano mural adorning entrance hall<\/p>\n

\"CurvedCurved bookshelf in the style of Oscar Niemeyer\u2019s Copan building<\/p>\n

\"ArtistLane Marinho at her drawing board<\/p>\n

\"ATropical living room<\/p>\n

\"TwoRestored wooden lifts sit side by side<\/p>\n

\"ViewCity view from the 10th floor<\/p>\n

\"TwoArtists Fabio and Fernanda Valentim <\/p>\n

Ponte\u2019s cause has been greatly aided by the general improvement of the neighbourhood. In recent years a reinvigorated vibrant downtown, or centro, has drawn an influx of architects, artists and creatives to repopulate old apartment blocks in the vicinity. While some of the new arrivals have been lured by the neighbourhood\u2019s famous (and massive) Edif\u00edcio Copan \u2013 designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil\u2019s best-known architect \u2013 those looking for cosier digs have ended up here.<\/p>\n

Most new arrivals at Heep\u2019s smaller 62-apartment block find themselves blessed with unobstructed city views. Balconies here overlook a yacht club\u2019s serene garden to the front and a low-lying university faculty to the rear. Views are a luxury within the high-density housing of S\u00e3o Paulo (which has roughly 12 million inner-city residents) and these ones are undeniably spectacular.<\/p>\n

Heep\u2019s forward-thinking architecture has also been a drawcard for the building. Aluminium shutters fitted with movable slats stretch across the fa\u00e7ade, forming an adjustable covering for each balcony. They allow air to circulate inside while doubling up as security screens \u2013 and it\u2019s a system that forms clever semi-enclosed spaces within the modest-sized apartments. These \u201cwinter terraces\u201d are coveted by residents, who tend to deck out their balconies beautifully with plants and outdoor furniture.<\/p>\n

Many of the private balconies are laden with the same floppy-leafed Monstera plant depicted on Graciano\u2019s downstairs mural. \u201cWe must think of how the Lausanne was landscaped originally,\u201d says Ponte, smiling. Her precise restoration work is an art in itself but the community pride that she\u2019s helped reinstate here is the building\u2019s real beauty \u2013 and triumph.<\/p>\n

1.
Residence 1
Andres Schipani & Alejandra Mejia<\/p>\n

Foreign correspondent Schipani first walked past the building when he was posted to Brazil more than a year ago. He immediately fell for the curved bookshelf in the sixth-floor apartment and convinced his Colombian wife Mejia that it was here that they could build a life for themselves in a new South American city (having both lived in bustling Bogot\u00e1). The simple open space with high ceilings and trademark parquet floor was a welcome backdrop for standing shelves stacked with their collection of novels.<\/p>\n

2.
Residence 2
Lane Marinho<\/p>\n

After establishing her studio inside the Lausanne three years ago, artist Marinho set her sights on making it her primary residence. She represents the new wave of young creatives moving into the building; her second-floor flat can be immediately spotted from the street outside by the cascading plants that fill the entire balcony. \u201cThere\u2019s a Brazilian pride about design during the period this building was constructed,\u201d says the shoe and ceramics designer. \u201cAs a person obsessed with aesthetics, I feel very privileged to live here.\u201d Originally from Bahia \u2013 a sweltering northeastern state \u2013 she says the apartment stays wonderfully cool thanks to the unique shutter system.<\/p>\n

3.
Residence 3
Fabio & Fernanda Valentim<\/p>\n

Design duo Fabio and Fernanda know their buildings. Nine years ago the couple, who run one of the top architecture firms in the city, completely refurbished their 10th-floor apartment. They knocked down the dividing wall, transformed the narrow corridor assigned for domestic staff into a walk-in bathroom and installed a sleek kitchen. Furniture and shelves have been custom-made to create nifty storage spaces \u2013 handy when you have two teenagers at home. \u201cWe value the question of space more than the amenities offered,\u201d says Fabio. \u201cFor Heep, space was key.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On most sunny S\u00e3o Paulo weekends, amateur photographers can be found snapping the multicoloured shutters of the Lausanne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[51969,51970,51971,51972,51973,51974,51975,94,51976,51977,51978,51979,51980],"class_list":["post-106274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lausanne","tag-adolf-franz-heep","tag-apartment-buildings","tag-architectural-restoration","tag-brazilian-architecture","tag-cloviz-graciano","tag-community-project","tag-copan-building","tag-lausanne","tag-modernist-architecture","tag-oscar-niemeyer","tag-regina-ponte","tag-residential-design","tag-sao-paulo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116959795502402166","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}