Forma Itaim

History

Forma Itaim is by Humai, a São Paulo developer that made the meeting of authorial architecture and small scale its method, and carries the signature of the Spanish practice b720, by Fermín Vázquezi, with Felipe de Geronei as co-author. The common-area interior design is by Triptyque Architecturei and the landscaping by Alex Hanazakii. The practice itself sums up the approach in one phrase: “respectful singularity” — the idea of standing out in a sea of undifferentiated skyscrapers without resorting to stridency. The plot was narrow and restrictive, and it is from it that the building’s slenderness is born.

• Concept: maximising each apartment’s two main view directions, giving every unit its own generous balcony and bringing the city’s landscape all the way to the circulation core and the lifts — all within a tight plot. The tower rests on a base of garages and common areas, and an intermediate communal floor splits it into two parts, giving the volume its identity.
• Curiosities: the building won the International Property Awards 2016-17 in the High-end residential development category for the Central and South America group, and in 2019 it was named by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat the best skyscraper in the world in the under-one-hundred-metre category — rare recognition for a Brazilian residential building. The ventilated, ceramic-clad façade is not just design: it helps maintain the internal temperature and preserve the building itself. The building’s official photographs are by Nelson Kon.

Architecture and aesthetics

A single, slender tower of twenty-five floors, with a ventilated ceramic façade and generous individual balconies that mark the volume. The lobby is glazed, with a double-height ceiling, and the lifts are panoramic: the design decision was to bring natural light and views into the parts of the building that are normally blind — the core, the standard-unit lobby, the lifts. The intermediate social floor, on the 13th floor, cuts the plumb line and gives the building the reading of two stacked bodies; on the 25th, at the top, are the pool and the solarium. Common-area interiors by Triptyque Architecturei; landscaping, including the entrance garden with a reflecting pool integrated into the social lobby, by Alex Hanazakii.

Aesthetics and scarcity

Technical specifications

• Towers and units: 1 tower, 25 floors, 123 units, 4 lifts. Composition: 108 studios of 45 m², 6 duplexes of 66 m², 3 penthouses of 90 m² and 6 garden units of 49 to 140 m².
• Sizes: 45 m² in the standard unit, with 1 bedroom; 66 m² in the duplexes; 90 m² in the penthouses; 49 to 140 m² in the garden units. The developer also publishes a combined-penthouse floor plan of 177 m².
• Parking: 131 spaces in total — 1 or 2 per apartment, all independent (no tandem parking).
• Structural highlights: 1,886 m² plot · 11,910 m² built area · ventilated ceramic-clad façade · panoramic lifts · glazed lobby with double-height ceiling · standard-unit lobby with views and natural light · generator for 100% of the building · armoured internal security room with CCTV.
• Registry and parameters: 1,886 m² plot · 11,910 m² built area · 1 tower · 25 storeys · 123 units · 1 bedroom in the standard unit · 131 parking spaces · 4 lifts · private areas from 45 m² to 177 m² · delivered 2017.

Leisure and facilities

• Pool and solarium on the 25th floor
• Indoor pool with a 25-metre lane
• Fitness on the 13th floor, with a panoramic view of the city
• Club lounge on the 13th floor, with a view of the city
• Steam and dry sauna
• Spa
• Massage room
• Squash court
• Basketball hoop with key area
• Lobby with reading and sitting area
• Party hall
• Communal laundry
• Custom bicycles for residents’ use
• Large outdoor garden with a reflecting pool integrated into the social lobby
• Bilingual concierge
• Armoured internal security room with CCTV circuit
• Generator for 100% of the building

Location and surroundings

Points of interest · distances in metres

Itaim Bibi: the address

Two names for the same address

The plot sits on the border between Itaim Bibi and Vila Nova Conceição, and both names are legitimate. The postcode registers Vila Nova Conceição; the high-end market treats the address as Itaim Bibi. This record adopts the name in common use and keeps the other for anyone searching by it.

Itaim Bibii is the neighbourhood that changed its skin in plain sight: it was a fabric of low-rise houses and became São Paulo money’s vertical showcase, without ever losing its shopping streets, its busy restaurants and its walkable blocks. Rua Ministro Jesuíno Cardoso runs two blocks from Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Limai and a few minutes from Avenida Juscelino Kubitscheki — the pair of avenues that concentrates the offices, funds and trading desks that set the city’s price per square metre. From here, Shopping JK Iguatemii and Parque do Povoi are minutes away, and the border with Vila Nova Conceiçãoi begins at the corner below. It is the address for those who want the axis, not the distance from it.