Winners of the Museu Paulista restoration competition

On December 18, the winning projects of the national architecture competition for the restoration and modernization of the monument building of the Museu Paulista (MP), located in the Ipiranga neighborhood of São Paulo, were announced. The competition was launched on September 7, as part of the "Museu do Ipiranga em Festa" celebrations. Out of a total of 13 entries, nine qualified to participate. The evaluation criteria included aspects such as rationality, functionality, and technical feasibility; respect for the building's material, structural, compositional, and documentary characteristics; creativity, aesthetic solution, and design innovation; compliance with specific uses and circulation and accessibility solutions; and the adoption of environmental sustainability criteria and solutions.

The winning project was selected by a judging committee comprising 11 members appointed by the competition promoter, including representatives from federal, state, and municipal heritage preservation agencies, the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram), and institutional partners such as the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB) and the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of São Paulo.

The jury was chaired by USP's Vice-Provost of Culture and University Extension, Marcelo de Andrade Roméro, and composed of the museum's director, Solange Ferraz de Lima; MP professor Maria Aparecida de Menezes Borrego; museologist Vera Lúcia Bottrel Tostes; professor at the School of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU), Angelo Bucci; the president of Ibram, Marcelo Mattos Araújo; engineer João Appleton; and architects Marcos José Carrilho (National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage – Iphan), Walter Luiz Fragoni (Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist Heritage – Condephaat), Mariana de Souza Rolim (Municipal Council for the Preservation of the Historical, Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the City of São Paulo – Conpresp), and Sabrina Studart Fontenele Costa (IAB). The group also received assistance from a technical committee composed of renowned experts in the field and coordinated by Professor Paulo Garcez Marins.

See the winning projects below:

FIRST PLACE - H+F Arquitetos

Architecture and Restoration Team: Eduardo Ferroni, Pablo Hereñú; Amanda Domingues, Anna Beatriz Ayroza Galvão, Camila Paim, Carolina Klocker, Griselda Kluppel, João Pedro Sommacal De Mello, Joséphine Poirot-Delpech, Levy Vitorino, Michele Meneses de Amorim, Olympio Augusto Ribeiro
Consultants: Arnaldo Ramoska (Building Services), Eduardo Léo Kayano (HVAC), Heloísa Maringoni (Structural), Marcos Lima Verde Guimarães (Geotechnical), Nilton Miranda (Fire Safety), Ricardo Heder (Lighting)

SECOND PLACE - Pires Giovanetti e Guardia + Metropole Arquitetos

Lead Architects: Anna Helena Villela, Juca Pires, and Silvio Oksman
Team: Vito Macchione, Ariel Somekh, Maria Beatriz Alves de Souza, Bruna Lima Caracciolo
Collaborators: Beatriz Vicino, Luiza Nadalutti
Consultants: Ana Paula Hirata Tanaka (collection preservation), Antônio Sérgio Damasco Penna (foundations), Azarias Macedo Junior (electrical installations/lightning protection), Carla Castro de Paula (cost estimation), Cássia Schroeder Buitoni (visual communication), Deborah Arjona Tomé (fire safety consulting), Fernanda Carvalho Ferreira Villares (lighting), Flavio Correia D'Alambert (steel structure), João Batista Dumangin (concrete structure/structural reinforcement), Marta Aparecida Tomaz (electrical installations/fire safety), Roberto Akio Hattori (HVAC/mechanical installations), Tatiana Gentil Machado (visual communication)

THIRD PLACE - Vigliecca & Associados

Authors: Héctor Vigliecca, Luciene Quel, Ronald Werner Fiedler, Neli Yumi Shimizu
Lead Architects: Héctor Vigliecca, Luciene Quel, Ronald Werner Fiedler, Neli Yumi Shimizu
Team: Fernanda Gomes Trotti, Pedro Ichimaru Bedendo, Carolina Passos, Kelly Cristina Coguetto Bozzato
Collaborators: Martin Pronczuk Briatore, Santiago Saettone Peña, Paulo Eduardo de Arruda Serra, Luci Tomoko Maie
Consultants: Adriana Tacaco Ozaki Godinho, Maria Luisa Becheroni, Sergio Ricardo Pedrozo De Mello, Yopanan C. P. Rebello, Gustavo Alves Ortega, Christian Hendrik Scheepmaker, Katia Da Silva Veronesi

The Museu do Ipiranga was closed to the public in 2013, and the building has since undergone a series of structural interventions. At the same time, the museum began transferring its collections to facilitate the construction work, with the Library and the Historical Documentation and Iconography department already completed and reopened to the public.

The winner will have 12 months from the signing of the contract to develop the detailed design, at a cost of R$ 5.6 million. Once the design is completed, USP will be able to open the bidding process for the construction, which is scheduled to begin in 2019. The museum is expected to reopen in 2022 during the Bicentennial of Independence celebrations. The building will then be dedicated exclusively to public visits, featuring exhibitions and spaces to appreciate its monumental architecture.