A mixed-use complex located in the largest financial axis of Latin America, also serving as a destination for design, culture, art, gastronomy, and hospitality in São Paulo. This is the essence and main goal of Praça Henrique Monteiro—a significant contribution to São Paulo’s urban fabric, integrating various functions within a carefully designed and unified architectural structure.
Project Name: Praça Henrique Monteiro + Pulso Hotel
Studio Name: Studio Arthur Casas
Location: Rua Henrique Monteiro, 154 – São Paulo – SP
Dates: 2016-2024
Built Area:
30812,18 sqm | Total area
18411,63 sqm | Residential Tower
3959,34 sqm | Hotel
1076,28 sqm | Restaurant + Boulangerie
Photography: Fernando Guerra and Fran Parente
Located on a side street off Faria Lima Avenue, on a plot spanning over 3,000 square meters and facing three different streets, the project features a residential tower and the first unit of the Pulso Hotel. These are connected by a ground floor with a boulevard, restaurant, bar, and boulangerie, and above them, an elevated, green square with views of the street that names the building.
One of its strengths is the unified visual identity. It is one of the few destinations in São Paulo with architecture and interiors entirely conceived by a single firm, ensuring a cohesive design and significant space optimization, intelligently articulated to guarantee security, privacy, and program efficiency.
FAÇADE
The complex’s striking silhouette is defined by a combination of volumes: the 40 story residential tower; the adjacent Pulso Hotel; the base that supports both, featuring an active facade with retail and access areas; and the elevated leisure area shared between them.
No single volume is more valuable than another; each stands independently yet complements the others in function, with green spaces filling the gaps. In Arthur Casas’s words, the facade is designed to be “discreet but imposing, timeless and without excess,” ensuring it does not disrupt the urban landscape.
The aesthetic solution combines dark, natural materials with lighter, more delicate ones, achieving a visual balance. Residential units feature metal brises and champagne-toned textured finishes, complemented by glass guardrails and natural wood ceilings on the terraces. The Pulso Hotel’s facade includes folding openings in a wood tone matching the ceilings.
The movable brises are crucial to the building’s aesthetics, offering privacy while allowing natural light and ventilation. Their user-controlled movement adds dynamism and vibrancy to the ever-changing facade.
At the base, concrete precast elements create a horizontal line to distinguish it from the other volumes and extend seamlessly to the sidewalk. Below, champagne toned metal panels and glass predominate. At night, lighting from the base’s pillars creates a dramatic effect, highlighting the structure from bottom to top.
