For the “Paulistas” IGUATEMI is considered the most luxurious shopping environment in Brazil located in the Jardins district of Sao Paulo. Eric Carlson and his office CARBONDALE were selected to design the expansion and renovation of the 50-year old urban landmark including the building’s exterior facades and interior public spaces including a 3,000 square meter 4-story high Main Plaza. To unify the building’s image the facades are entirely clad in beige limestone, with polished and matt finished black granite arches marking the monumental entries. To create an active, vibrant pedestrian scale the ground level is encompassed with black canvas awnings shading the window displays, exterior restaurants and café terraces. The large naturally illuminated interior volume is treated like an exterior space. The walls are lined with vertical ribbons of travertine stone and punctuated by black metal storefront frames. In the center of the main plaza is a 400 square meter pixelized garden composed of 170 stepping cumaru wood planters and pathways creating a geometric cascade of vegetation that follow the monumental sloping pedestrian ramps.
