Hasta La Ideas

The Brazil headquarters for retail conglomerate Walmart’s online division by Estudio Guto Requena has colour-coded levels and a terrace with a miniature golf course (+ slideshow).

Brazil firm Estudio Guto Requena aimed to create informal meeting spaces similar to those found in workplaces of technology companies on each of the floors at the Walmart.com headquarters, which occupies the sixth to tenth levels of a tower in São Paulo.

Communal areas are treated like balconies or patios, with outdoor furniture such as deck chairs, hammock-like seats and wicker swings set up for employees to socialise like neighbours.

“This is a very special project for us,” studio founder Guto Requena told Dezeen. “The very first time in Walmart history that they invested so much attention in design for their space. Pushing their newest office to have a strong identity and a cosy interior… an interesting overlap between Walmart DNA and strong Brazilian culture.”

Meeting rooms are grouped into volumes at the centre of the open-plan office space on each level, surrounded by curved walls clad with timber strips on the outside.

Surfaces, furniture and window frames in these spaces are treated in a different wood and a colour from Walmart’s branding on each floor.

The yellow floor includes the employees’ cafe, while a pool table is situated in the green zone, and a lounge with sofas and guitars is set up in one of the orange rooms.

The informal meeting spaces are located in pockets formed by the odd shape of these blocks, with carpet and furniture matching those in the adjacent rooms.

A minigolf course was designed especially for the terrace on the sixth level, where there’s also a space for yoga and a seating area in front of a stage for hosting small events, concerts and film screenings.

Photography is by Fran Parente.

Here’s some more information from Estudio Guto Requena:

Walmart.com Office

Pre-design Research Methodology

The design for the Walmart.com Offices was derived from a research methodology developed by Estudio Guto Requena. Interviews and dynamic online exchanges with company employees were conducted to assess values, needs and expectations.

Three principal focal points emerged from this process: digital culture, the Walmart.com brand and brasilidade (Brazilian identity). This research also informed the choice of colours, materials, forms, programming and design concepts.

Conceptual Framework

We applied these three focal points and their commonalities to an exploration of the building’s prominent terrace and developed from this a guiding concept for the company’s headquarters: the Urban Veranda. Design choices reference the Brazilian habit of engaging outdoor areas for social interaction and relaxation.

Elements include beach chairs, the many large buildings with terraced facades, picnics (visible in the carpet patterning), the patios and balconies of Brazilian homes, and the rural habit of placing a chair in the street to enjoy the evening and chat with neighbours.

Program and Identity

The headquarters occupy five floors with over a thousand square meters each. One of the challenges of this project was to bring a more human dimension to the work environment with spaces that are welcoming and comfortable, even pleasant and informal, while maintaining professionalism and practicality. Other challenges included a lean budget and a tight deadline.

To help locate and guide visitors and employees in this large area, we created a unique visual identity for each floor through centralised cocoons that develop organically between the pillars and break the rigidity of the orthogonal space. Each floor was designed with a predominant wood type.

Pine, OSB, Eucalyptus and Masisa Zurich combine with a single colour in various shades, all chosen from the official Walmart colour palate of yellow, orange, blue and green. Different floors house individual departments, such as Business, Sales, Human Resources or Finance, and also contain lounges and decompression environments, including games rooms, film screening areas, video games and a library. These areas are to encourage the exchange of ideas and interaction between employees from different departments.

Lighting

Workstations are located near windows to take advantage of daylight, and the lighting design prioritises economy. In lounges and decompression areas indirect light is used in amber hues with decorative fixtures. Specifically created for this project is the hanging Gourd Lamp made from the fruit itself.

Traditionally, these have been used in Brazil as containers, and also as resonators in musical instruments such as the chocalho, the berimbau and the maracá. Dried gourds were painted gray inside and arrayed on a wooden support, with colorful wiring left exposed.

Furniture and Decoration

We prioritised the use of domestic furniture in both the offices and lounges, with signed pieces by the established Brazilians designers Maurício Arruda, Jader Almeida, Lina Bo Bardi, and Paulo Alves and Fernando Jaeger. We also included pieces that are part of the popular Brazilian imagination, such as rocking chairs, beach chairs, porch chairs and picnic tables.

For the production of objects and decorative elements we used images of contemporary Brazilian photographers, as well as maps, illustrations and Brazilian folk art. Skateboards and bikes reference the lifestyles of younger employees.

Greenery

Throughout the office we emphasised the use of plants, and created a green belt that runs through the peripheral spaces and contributes to the identity and warmth of the work environment.

Terrace

The outdoor area was designed for both work and relaxation. Wood decking orders the environment, together with porch furniture, shaded areas, a space for yoga and a grandstand facing the facade that can host small events, concerts and film screenings. A mini-golf course was also specially designed for the terrace.

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Brazilian studio Estudio Guto Requena have designed an exhibition stand that changes color in response to how busy the space gets.

The [Cyber]Sewing Atelier was created for an art fair in Sao Paulo to display outfits that incorporate digital technologies, as well as hosting lectures and sewing workstations.

The structure was made from pine frames covered in bubble wrap.

Coloured LED lighting in each panel was controlled by seven heat sensors and three sound sensors spread around the space.

Cooler colours were projected onto the bubble wrap when the area was quieter, while warmer colours emerged when it was busier and noisier.

Photographs are by Fran Parente.

Here are some more details from the designers:

SCENOGRAPHY DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION “[CYBER]SEWING ATELIER”

Estudio Guto Requena

In a 2.700 square feet space, the scenography shelters the complex art and technology exhibition “[Cyber]sewing Atelier” program, which takes part of the biggest annual art event in Sao Paulo – The Sesc Art Exhibition 2010. Five wearable computer pieces, lectures and workshops take place inside this space, and also a private area set apart for artists to test and repair their artistic creations.

The exhibition takes place at Sesc Pompeia, undoubtedly one of the most architectonic relevant buildings in the country, projected by architect Lina Bo Bardi, and opened in 1982. Our scenography establishes a profound dialogue with this building, in a relationship of both integration and unfamiliarity, paradoxically. A long translucent surface unrolls itself through the space, with its dimensions, angles and proportions calculated to create a certain relation with its surroundings, tearing up the building and creating the needed reserved areas for the program.

This translucent wall consists of an interactive skin, which responds to the environment stimuli, changing its color, through several sensors that capture movement at sonorous level of people walking around and through the building. Colors and distinct graphics patterns invite the public’s reflections about the way they occupy, walk and behave within the space. The main thought for this interactive skin is to enhance and unite these three entities: visitors, space and the five wearable pieces.

The skin construction was made from low cost materials and simple, accessible technology. For the wall structure, certified Pine wood pieces were used, then covered with bubble wrap. For the interaction part, seven infrared presence sensors and three sonorous sensors were used, spread around the interior of the building. Those sensors had their codes opened and their original functioning was modified and then they were all connected to the micro-controller Arduino, which converts the sensors input signs into chromatic patterns and alternate them into an open programming. All this was projected and constructed in the workshops, during the event. And all these equipments were exposed as part of the scenography´s aesthetic concept. The initial idea was to making cold color, such as greens and blues, indicate quiet moments with few people and noises, opposing to warm colors, as reds and yellows, that indicate more people in the space and, consequently more noises. All the data and programming will be free shared at Pachube (pachube.com).

Referring to grammas sewing ateliers memories, the scenography incorporates elements of affective impact upon the visitors, purchased in small shops and garage sales, like the chair selection worn by time, decorative porcelain pieces, sewing machines, wool balls, knitting needles and antique tapestry. Added to this time related layer, comes elements of our era and daily routine: microchips, micro-controllers, LEDs and transistors.

The exhibition should generate the least environmental impact possible, so this way, all decorative objects and furniture were rented, and the Pine wall structure and its bubble wrap covering, will be given away to recycling cooperatives. The use of local materials, including the interaction equipment, was a priority, and all the furniture bought at Institution “Lar Escola Sao Francisco” will be given back to the former owner, so they can resell them.

The [Cyber]sewing Atelier” scenography and art direction project incorporates in its essence elements from apparently distinct universes, which just like the advances of new information and communication technologies, seem to merge: organic and machines, analog and digital, natural and artificial, concrete and virtual.

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We welcome the public to speculate the directions our bodies, our clothes and our space are taking along those new technologies.

Curatorship: Gabriela Carneiro
Scenography and Art Direction: Guto Requena Arquitetura e Design
Team: Guto Requena, Paulo de Camargo e Lucas Ciciliato
Interaction Technician: Radamés Ajna
Production: COM TATO – Cultural Agency and Célula – Production Agency
Gráfic Designer: Poliana Melo

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