Citrosuco, the world’s largest producer of concentrated orange juice, turned to Perkins&Will São Paulo to enlarge their corporate environment in São Paulo, Brazil. Although the company is headquartered in Matão, where the operational teams are located, there was a demand for a strategic space to accommodate directors, board members, shareholders, and other executives, promoting informal meetings, committee lunches, and visits. The proposed design aimed to provide comfort and privacy, highlighting the company’s trajectory. Thus, a large 17-meter bookshelf was conceived to serve as a partition, offering display niches to commemorate important milestones since Citrosuco’s foundation in 2010.
PROJECT SHEET:
Project Start Year: 2021
Construction Completion Year: 2022
Built Area: Corporate Floor, 750m2
Location: Praça Professor José Lannes, Edifício Berrini 500 – Cidade Monções, São Paulo
CREDITS:
Client: Citrosuco
Interior Design: Perkins&Will SP Studio
Team: Fernando Vidal, Carlos Andrigo, Paula Caçador, Leandro Gushiken, Luiz Zilberknop, Alice Uemoto
Photos: Renato Navarro
COLLABORATORS
Construction Company: SAENG
Consultants: WProjetos (electrical/cabling/plumbing/firefighting), EPTENG (air conditioning), Akkerman (acoustics)
Lighting Design: Foco Luz e Desenho
Landscaping: Hydra Plantas
Visual Communication: DEA Design
Multimedia: Grupo Brisa
SUPPLIERS:
Metal Panels: Sul Metais
Furniture (decorative and industrial): Hitchpen, Innovare Work, Fernando Jaeger
Partition Systems: Abatex
Flooring and Carpets: Fort Corporativo
“The flows were organized from the entrance in two directions, inspired by the organic shapes of the orange tree,” says Carlos Andrigo, Senior Project Designer at Perkins&Will São Paulo. Upon entering the space, visitors can turn right, embarking for an unconventional reception and storytelling journey, where they are welcomed by the hosts themselves. Alternatively, they can turn left, entering a context more focused on people, equipped with areas for teamwork and relaxation. A large sinuous circulation ring traverses the entire office, arousing curiosity about what lies ahead. This path helps divide the space and is punctuated by large architectural blocks that form enclosed rooms.
The windows offer views of the greenery of the Sociedade Hípica Paulista and the Cidade Jardim neighborhood, a landscape that harmonizes with the natural tones chosen for the interior design. Upholstered benches inspire coziness and hospitality, while the collaborative area brings together the cafeteria and dining space, with the possibility of enjoying the exterior view. There are also phone booths and rotating workstations.
“We created green masses at the height of the work tables so that people can enjoy the proximity of plants and the well-being that this coexistence generates in their daily lives,” explains Leandro Gushiken, Project Architect at Perkins&Will São Paulo. “We were able to incorporate planters and pots with foliage aligned with the client’s business, from the entrance and pantry to the workspaces and enclosed rooms,” he adds. Natural materials such as wood and reproductions of orange peel textures support this dialogue.
Instead of using doors, different volumes were linked together to define spaces and ensure a smoother flow. The use of curved glass and rounded drywall walls contributes to this circulation, which is further enhanced by the arrangement of industrial partitions with cappuccino-colored uprights. “We created a large open area with exposed concretes to replicate the sensation of walking through a fruit-laden orchard and suddenly finding an opening to admire the sky,” says Andrigo.
The project was carried out using the Design Thinking method and was developed through close collaboration between architects and the client. As a result, form and function aligned with the presented purpose. “We received a lot of inspiration and created a fluid space, like the fruit’s juice, which circulates through Brazil and the world in ships, trucks, tanks, bottles, and so on,” summarizes Gushiken.
About Perkins&Will
Perkins&Will is an interdisciplinary architecture and design firm founded in 1935 with the belief that design has the power to transform lives. Guided by its core values of design excellence, diversity and inclusion, research, resilience, social purpose, sustainability, and well-being, the firm is committed to designing a better and more beautiful world. Fast Company has named Perkins&Will one of the world’s most innovative companies in architecture, and industry rankings consistently place Perkins&Will among the top design practices worldwide. With an international team of over 2,400 professionals, the firm has 27 studios worldwide, offering integrated services in architecture, interior design, brand environments, urban design, and landscape architecture.
Established in 2012, the Perkins&Will studio in São Paulo has approximately 100 multidisciplinary collaborators and has developed projects for clients such as Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Rede D’Or, Prevent Senior, Grupo Fleury, Bank of America, C6 Bank, Tozzini Freire Advogados, Machado Meyer Advogados, Insper, Escola Bilíngue Pueri Domus, Grupo SEB, Trisul SA, SDI Incorporadora, Vitacon Imobiliária, You.Inc, Lúcio Engenharia, and MPD Engenharia. Partnerships include Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen, retail strategy and design consultancy Portland, sustainable transportation planning consultancy Nelson\Nygaard, and luxury hospitality design firm Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR).
