A consolidated institution with strong presence in the cultural scene in Brazil. Despite holding a precious collection and extensive experience in the promotion of exhibits and cultural events, so far IMS does not really have an exhibit space consistent with its possibilities in Sao Paulo. The new headquarters will meet the concrete need for more space, but certainly should be much more than that: above all it arises from the desire to create a place that can represent the values and transmit the spirit of the institution.

The museum appears from the inside out and therefore the new headquarters must be thought so, having as its main motivation being a programmatic and symbolic platform for IMS. In this sense, we have imagined an accessible museum, anchored at present, having a frank and direct relation with the city and at the same time, offering a quiet and cozy indoor environment; a museum capable of balancing the vibration of the sidewalks with the nature and scale of museum spaces, which requires a particular light quality and time perception; in short, a museum with a remarkable character that can provide a unique and personal experience for those who visit it.

For the proposed building to meet these qualities, we carried on the analysis and interpretation of two fundamental parameters for the concept of the project: the program and the urban context. Our point here, in addition to the complex functional requirements that were presented, was determining the articulations and the desired qualities for the internal spaces of the museum as well as defining what kind of relationship would be established between the new building and the city. The Program: From the analysis of the program we have elaborated a quantification of the necessary areas and a grouping of spaces according to their nature, creating a gradient from the more open and permeable to the more restricted and controlled.

This diagram represents the intention to strengthen the connections and continuities between the programs open to the public and preserve the privacy and control of administrative and service programs. As a consequence of this reasoning, we should distribute separate circulations for the public, for administrative areas and for freight and services. From the analysis we have also concluded that the spaces should be generous, especially in the exhibit areas, given the central role it will have within the framework of the new museum.

They should also be flexible and have a controlled environment, with the ideal conditions to accommodate the collection and the most different display modes. In order to create a significant program grouping, we have gathered the auditorium, classrooms, library and multimedia space into a single and integrated body, forming the new Media Library of the Institute. This set creates an important counterpoint to the exhibit rooms, capable of balancing attention inside the museum. Thus, part of the library can function as living space for those attending the classrooms and these ones, when integrated, become a small suspended auditorium that relates both to the library and the foyer.

Our aim was also to approximate the various forms of expression and media in a more fluid and continuous space, without losing the necessary restraints for the proper functioning of each of the spaces. The Place: Paulista Avenue is one of the rare places in the city where we can find a huge variety of people and programs living in the same place. One of the few places where we have a mixed, plural, and more democratic city. This rare quality coupled with the generous scale and the privileged geographic situation makes Paulista Ave. one of the most interesting and lively spaces of São Paulo.

Adjusting the focus to the area surrounding the new museum, we have identified some singularities of that piece of the avenue. The crossing with Consolação Ave. translates into great movement of vehicles and persons because of the proximity of several underground stations and the bus corridor. The sidewalk at this point is narrower, because of the presence of the tunnel right in front of it. We are at the very end of the avenue where a wide view opens to Pacaembu valley right in front and to the ridge derivation of Dr.

Arnaldo Ave. to the left. Conjunto Nacional is two blocks away, and MASP, a little further. The lot, 20 x 50 meters is flat and surrounded by buildings from 13 to 18 floors on all sides: a gap in the sequence of volumes profiled along the avenue. A truly extraordinary location. On the other hand, when we are inside the lot, at the sidewalk level, we realize that the space offers few openings and connections with the surroundings. The questions we posed at the beginning of this analysis arise again: what is the relationship we want to establish between the museum and the city and how does this decision affect the articulation of the internal spaces of the museum? The Concept: The solution was to transfer the ground floor of the museum - its main articulating element – from the bottom to the center of the building, fifteen meters above the level of Paulista Avenue, creating an entirely new open relationship between the museum, the city and its inhabitants .

With this shift, we have left a claustrophobic and restricted condition imposed by the limits of the lot, to gain the views of the city, while creating the possibility of a new articulation of the internal spaces of the museum. This operation also has the effect of releasing the level of Paulista Avenue for it to function in conjunction with the first underground level as a platform for distribution of the various circulations that feed the building. Designed as a large urban hall, the level of Paulista Avenue becomes an extension of the sidewalk, leading the visitor through the escalators and elevators to the heart of the building.

Through this transference, which refers to the familiar shifts of the nearby subway stations, a first transition occurs from the scale of the city to the scale of the museum. Along the way, the sounds and bustle from the street are attenuated, and the intensity and nature of the light change, until you get to the elevated ground floor overlooking the city, which opens a totally new perspective. Released from a too close and direct confrontation with the street, it was possible to create a vibrant space full of energy, yet, adjusted to the intensity and environment desired for the museum.

The scale and time have changed. We are inside the new IMS. As stated, with this transference we have rebalanced the center of gravity of the edifice, approaching the main programs of the ground floor. This result, again, has gone beyond the merely functional aspects. It is about adjusting routes and movements to the scale and time that are most relevant to the museum. From the elevated ground floor, the perception that the visitor has of the program spaces is straightforward and clear. The ground floor was transformed into a gathering and distribution plaza, which also has a cafe / restaurant and shop; above the plaza, hovering over it, the exhibit spaces are protected in a closed volume; below it, the Media Library programs are grouped as a large meeting space dedicated to movies, music, literature and, more generally, to research and knowledge production.

The administration is located at the top of the edifice to preserve its autonomy. On the other hand, an exclusive circulation channel connects its spaces with the other levels of the building from the parking lot to the exhibits. At the other extreme, at the level of Paulista Avenue, we have located the temporary storage area of the works of art. Strategically located along the channels of loading and unloading, this space has the function to welcome the works - before and after the assembly - and prepare them for exhibits and transport.

Given the strategic role that the Reserve plays for the museum, we have imagined that it would be interesting for the movement of incoming and outgoing of works to become visible, in a controlled way of course to those who access the level of Paulista Avenue. The Reserve is connected to the rest of the building through a large freight elevator. The spatiality of the museum is perceived and given mainly from the voids of the edifice, which are the spaces of circulation and meeting that spread between the program volumes and the façade of the building.

The materiality of the facade - made with a self-supporting translucent glass - gives a quality of light that corresponds exactly to what we wanted from the beginning of the project, when we thought about the interior of the museum as a backwater - a quiet, cozy space, which, on the other hand, keeps the latent energy that has formed it. Likewise, the light that infilters these spaces carries with it the trail of the city, bringing into the museum the memory of the world that lies around it. The choice of some materials reinforces this desire to build meaningful relations with the city.

In the elevated ground floor, we have recovered the Portuguese mosaic floor that has long been used on the sidewalks of Paulista Avenue. On the other hand, we have used the material that make the sidewalks today to cover the entire floor of the museum at street level, so that we can have a continuous space. Finally, there is the question of how the edifice stands in the city. The use of translucent glass as a curtain wall allows the museum to be perceived as a well defined whole volume, with the force needed to establish its place among the neighbors and other buildings on Paulista Avenue.

On the other hand, its property of light and translucency create for the building a second record, which is changeable depending on the nature of the environment and the observer's position. As a result, the interior of the museum is subtly manifested in the urban space.