Bernoulli Vale do Sereno School

The approximately 9,400 m² site is located in Vale do Sereno, between Belo Horizonte and Nova Lima, a region that, over the past decades, has consolidated itself as an important vector of urban expansion in the metropolitan area. Characterized by large residential buildings and a mountainous landscape with a strong identity, the site has a transversal difference in elevation of almost 18 meters, a condition that determines the entire logic of the project. The architecture distributes approximately 40,000 m² in a predominantly horizontal volume, in contrast to the residential towers in the surrounding area, constituting an alternative to the pattern of occupation that has marked the recent development of Vale do Sereno.

The predominance of tall towers built over extensive parking podiums has consolidated a landscape of self-contained buildings, with accesses concentrated along a single road, little relationship with the topography, and reduced interaction with public space. The result is a fragmented urbanity, in which each development functions as an enclave: streets become the backs of lots, façades remain inactive, there are no uses capable of qualifying everyday life, and even short-distance journeys often depend on cars, including between neighboring buildings.

In contrast to this logic, Bernoulli occupies the entire block and establishes simultaneous relationships with all the streets that delimit it. The different levels of the site naturally allow the organization of accesses, reducing routes and connecting the building to the city on all its fronts. Each façade participates in urban life, eliminating the distinction between front and back and transforming the complex into a permeable infrastructure. The school is no longer understood as an isolated object placed on the site, but rather as a continuity between topography, architecture, landscape, and city.

The program is organized into two complementary systems. The horizontal base brings together spaces dedicated to teaching, sports, culture, and social interaction. The tower concentrates the administrative activities of the Bernoulli Education System. Between the two is the main circulation core, located at the main access level (Jacarandá Street), responsible for distributing flows to all floors and articulating the main collective-use facilities: a 400-seat auditorium, a covered multipurpose gymnasium, two uncovered multipurpose sports courts, restaurants, terraces, social areas, and a parking facility with capacity for more than 450 vehicles, equipped with an internal drop-off and pick-up area. From this level, the lower floors accommodate the Early Childhood Education, Elementary School, and High School environments, while the upper levels concentrate support areas, restaurants, terraces, and corporate spaces.

The organization of the building is based on a simple understanding: in a contemporary school, learning does not happen only inside the classroom. Much of the everyday experience takes place in circulation, informal encounters, areas for staying, and shared spaces. Consequently, circulation ceases to perform only a distributive function and becomes part of the architectural program. Ramps, stairs, bleachers, voids, walkways, landings, and terraces constitute a continuous sequence of spaces that can be appropriated for studying, resting, social interaction, and spontaneous activities. So-called residual spaces cease to exist; every square meter participates in the pedagogical experience.

This understanding, present since the initial premises of the project, proved even more relevant during the pandemic. The diversity of indoor and outdoor environments, variations in ceiling heights, cross ventilation, and the possibility of different forms of interaction, already incorporated into its conception, proved particularly suitable for that context. The revision carried out during the period reinforced the role of intermediate spaces and their capacity to accommodate future transformations, strengthening the original organization of the project.

The architectural composition derives from the articulation of four main volumes implemented over the same structural grid: the gymnasium, with a trapezoidal geometry; the auditorium, rectangular in shape; the administrative tower, conceived as a compact volume; and the longitudinal school building. Each volume responds to the specific requirements of the program, while the common grid coordinates structure, architecture, installations, and enclosures. This logic simplifies construction, rationalizes the execution process, and allows future adaptations without altering the spatial organization of the complex. Flexibility, in this context, does not mean generic spaces, but rather a construction system capable of evolving over time.

This idea would subsequently be further developed in the other Bernoulli units. In Salvador, modularity and industrialization become the structuring elements of the architecture; in Cidade Jardim, the same reasoning is applied to the transformation and adaptation of a listed historic complex. The Vale do Sereno campus represents the starting point of this investigation and its most comprehensive formulation.

The materiality follows the same logic of precision and rationality. Exposed concrete, glass, expanded metal sheets, sunshades, and aluminum louvers are employed according to the specific conditions of each façade, combining environmental performance, sustainability, durability, and architectural expression. The architecture uses few materials, consistently exploring their properties, without distinguishing between technical performance and formal language.

The solar protection devices were dimensioned based on specific studies for each orientation, reducing direct solar radiation, controlling glare, preserving natural lighting, and decreasing the thermal load of the environments. The solution reduces dependence on and increases the efficiency of mechanical cooling and artificial lighting, improves user comfort, and maintains visual permeability toward the landscape, a condition considered essential for the quality of learning spaces.

The technical infrastructure remains exposed in most of the environments. Electrical and hydraulic installations, climate-control systems, special systems, and other networks were organized to facilitate maintenance, inspection, and future adaptations. This decision responds both to construction rationality and to the need for an architecture prepared to keep pace with the constant transformations of pedagogical and technological processes.

The visual communication system was developed as an integral part of the architecture. Signage, colors, graphics, and modular elements organize the environments, guide circulation, and create an institutional identity common to the different Bernoulli units, while preserving the specificity of each urban context. Architecture, interiors, lighting, visual communication, and landscaping cease to constitute independent disciplines and instead form a single spatial system.

The experience acquired throughout this process consolidated a distinctive architectural language for the Bernoulli campuses. Each unit responds to the specific conditions of its place — topography in Nova Lima, industrialization in Salvador, and heritage preservation in Cidade Jardim — while preserving the same design logic. Site planning, structure, circulation, materiality, technical infrastructure, and visual communication cease to be independent layers and instead constitute a single architectural system.

The Vale do Sereno campus synthesizes this research. Its architecture organizes a permanent infrastructure for education, conceived to accommodate different ways of teaching, learning, and social interaction over time. Rather than providing specific answers for a pedagogical model or a particular historical moment, the building establishes an open spatial structure, capable of absorbing future transformations while preserving clarity of site planning, construction precision, and continuity between architecture, landscape, and city.