COPASA Head Office | Ulisses Morato

This project, located in São Sebastião do Paraíso - Minas Gerais, accommodates one of the administrative head-offices of COPASA - Companhia de Saneamento, the state owned company responsible for the water treatment and distribution to the majority of the cities. The architectonic concept articulates the two orders on which the activities of the company are based: the Natural Order referring to the hydric resources, raw-material used to supply the municipal districts: expressed by the sinuous wall that conducts the public to the main access and simultaneously creates an internal yard. The Technological Order which leads to the complex technical apparatus used on sanitation of water coming from rivers and streams: shown mainly by the choice of materials and presence of rationalist lines. The program was structured in two organizing elements: the “articulating” (white) and the “operational” (ocher). Using local resources was an indispensable strategy to reduce the construction costs.