DALY MORENO II   Architecture, BIM Management

Vetor Lobo is an animation, film and special effects company catering for advertising agencies and filmmakers. The present company structure is the result of a merger between Vetor Zero and Lobo filmes. Their new office headquarters was created to allow all team members to work together under one roof.

Three office floors were negotiated in a long term rent agreement with the landlord so the tenant Vetor Lobo could fully renovate the spaces to their liking. The building is located in a premium address near their major clients and there is a total of  2250m² (24200 sqf.) of office area distributed along three contiguous floors (10th, 11th and 12th) with 750m² (8070 sqf.) each.

The strong idea behind this this project was to physically connect all three floors with a triple story entrance hall served by a sculptural, floating stairway compatible with their company branding. Fernando Cohen, one of the partners at Vetor Lobo, had an architecture background and also worked as art director for many films produced by the company. He had many ongoing sketches and mood boards by the time I was hired as the project architect entrusted to draft their dream into reality.

His approach to the problem of the stair was unconventional – A lavish three flight-width staircase typical of a neo-classical nineteenth century theatre hall but composed with straight flights, open risers and curved landings resembling the stern of a boat and construction materials very unlikely to be used on a stair of this type : a metal structure for the strings and balustrades and wood for the threads and handrails.

I kept a similar approach to design the other metal structures and railings in the office, a mezzanine and a couple of double story openings on the top floor. I adjusted the details of the metal work based on expert advice by Paulo, the engineer for the contractor of metal structures AlphaMetal.

I created a 3D model of the staircase in VectorWorks to be used for visualization purposes and to have precise, live updated Plans and Sections of it.. A workflow based in a 3D model was easily accepted by this client because they were used to have 3D models done for their animations. It was extremely unusual to use a BIM approach in Brazil back in 2004.

The layout plans were negotiated with all stakeholders and I then produced floorplans, reflected ceiling plans and construction details for the custom made doors and lighting fixtures in cooperation with the contractors.

An in-house cabinet maker used by Vetor Lobo to create film sets was hired to build meeting tables, TV racks, file cabinets, shelves and corner computer desks. I created and drafted construction drawings for most of the custom made furniture used in this office.

Architectural Design : Fernando Cohen and Daly Moreno

Project architects : Nidia Simões and Daly Moreno