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The building is articulated in a fractal pattern crystallising the landscape that surrounds it. Following the cardinal points, nature is converted into a pixelated tapestry, a mathematical and rational structure transforming the landscape where the building is located in the museum itself.

Luis Aguirre
Sergio Blanco
James Tendayi Matsuku
Yihang Zhang

Building area: 5350 sqm
Location: Campinas, Brazil
Client: UNICAMP, State University of Campinas

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Campinas is a Brazilian city near São Paulo whose public university campus is located 10 km north. The proposal for this science museum is embodied in an iconic element with a presence intimately linked to the landscape. The scheme reveals itself as a public building and a landmark, but on the other hand, it is totally integrated into the landscape finding more complex spatial arrangements that make the most of the natural light.

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The relationship between the visible and the invisible becomes the ingredient that makes the visitor's tour exciting. A science museum should be a place of exploration and be a guide for intuition. The visit must, therefore, become an analogy of the scientific method, providing to the public, through experimentation, the knowledge that satisfies their curiosity. The science museum, therefore, is not a building that can be seen at a glance, but rather one that offers unexpected spaces.

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Through a system of full and empty spaces based on a given grid, the building is split up into three main parts crystallising the landscape.
A vast space emerges from the ground housing the reception area. This entrance becomes a viewpoint from which to connect the experimental spaces: workshops and temporary exhibitions. The permanent exhibition area, on the contrary, is located in the basement taking advantage of the same unevenness. Spaces are arranged in a reticulated system of courtyards and skylights combined with emerging volumes of different height under which the exhibition spaces are located.

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The car park, established as the starting and ending point of the tour, follows the same language as the rest of the scheme.
The extensive area occupied by the project is sometimes invaded by the landscape, treated also as a pixelated patchwork, combining wooded areas, gardens and pavement.