Contraction and Expansion

The project for the Galeria Adriana Varejão, in a small town of the Minas Gerais state, sought to recompose the site's original topography by inserting an artificial element: a regular block in reinforced concrete, partially inside the hillside. The structure is composed by an irregular retaining wall that gains the space in the ground floor and receives the loads of the block.

The building is also a spiral path that connects two levels of the park, alternating spaces of contraction/passage and expansion/exhibition, in a sequence starting on the ground floor: (1st contraction) In the middle of the water pound, in a narrow promenade - (2nd expansion) The small square plaza on the ground floor - (3rd contraction) The promenade turns to the building - (4th expansion) The ground floor, inside the hill, bellow the concrete block - (5th contraction) The stairs - (6th expansion) The first floor, inside the concrete block - (7th contraction) The ramp - (8th expansion) The terrace, above the concrete block - (9th contraction) The bridge.