Coffee shop Estação Ciência

Estação Ciência is a center for scientific dissemination, founded in
1987 and incorporated into the University of São Paulo in 1990. A student exhibition center occupies premises built in the early 20th century that house a textile factory with railway lines and 140-meter platforms for loading and unloading merchandise. The complex includes a second parallel factory that operates as an activity center for the disabled. Between the two brick constructions is an open, tree-covered space where trains used to arrive.

The coffee shop is located at the same level as the covered platform, where visitors come in and walk around. The internal landscape defined the shape of a light, new construction, whose volume would respect and at the same time, highlight the delicacy of the site.
The strategy entailed avoiding any interference with the existing
architecture. Thus, an independent metallic structure was chosen, measuring 17 meters long by 3.4 meters wide and 2.4 meters high. Only two structures in the foundations rise up to directly support the new structure in a transversal projection.

During the day, the interior is totally transparent, and the construction looks opaque from the outside. At night, the opposite is true. The glass panels slide apart to create a spacious entrance through the platform, with natural cross ventilation. The internal space is divided between the customer service balcony, the only fixed room on the premises and coffee shop equipment.

UNA Arquitetos was founded in 1996 by architects who graduated from the Architecture and Urbanism School of the University of São Paulo (FAUUSP): Cristiane Muniz (São Paulo, 1970), Fábio Valentim (São Paulo, 1970), Fernanda Barbara (São Paulo, 1967) and Fernando Viégas (São Paulo, 1971). They designed the Brazilian Pavilion for the 11th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice (2004).