Sesc Pompeia
Lina Bo Bardi's conversion of a drum factory into a cultural centre, with raw concrete towers and skywalks.
Sesc Pompeia occupies the former Mauser & Cia factory of 1938, a set of brick and concrete sheds built to make oil drums and later refrigerators. When the Serviço Social do Comércio acquired the site in the 1970s, Lina Bo Bardi found local people already using the empty sheds at weekends and decided to keep the industrial fabric rather than clear it. Working with André Vainer and Marcelo Ferraz between 1977 and 1986, she inserted a theatre, library, workshops, exhibition halls and a restaurant into the existing structures. The centre opened to the public on 22 January 1982.
The most photographed part of the complex is the sports block, added on a strip of land crossed by a stream. Two board-marked concrete towers stand on either side, one holding stacked sports halls and the other changing rooms and a water tank, linked by eight open walkways at varying heights. Irregular openings punched through the concrete serve as windows. A concrete deck with a serpentine water channel runs between the original sheds, and the complex still draws several thousand visitors a day. Free heritage tours explain the building's history and construction.
Highlights
- Concrete sports towers joined by eight open walkways
- Irregular punched windows instead of conventional openings
- Retained 1930s factory sheds housing theatre, library and workshops
- Serpentine water channel running through the internal street
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