The city of São Paulo will gain a new Sesc next June. This is already a cause for celebration, given the well-known social and cultural impact of these centers, and takes on even greater importance as it is the first to be part of an urban development plan. Built in Dom Pedro II Park, the facility directly and actively intervenes in an area that represents one of the city's greatest urban challenges. It is a proposal that goes against decades of social erosion and urban degradation resulting from an intensive road-centric policy, which reached its peak during the period... of the years of lead from the military dictatorship, between 1968 and 1974. To this day it remains a traffic bottleneck with improvised solutions, distorting the city's historic center and preventing – both concretely and symbolically – a productive, social and urban integration of so many areas of the metropolis. 

Derived from the Dom Pedro II Park Urban Development Plan, developed between 2010 and 2012 by a multidisciplinary team (which remained largely unfinished), the project developed for this space – the 26th Sesc unit in Greater São Paulo – seeks solutions for the specific circumstances of the location. The new building is being constructed in an area adjacent to the former São Vito, one of the largest residential buildings in Latin America, which became known as "Treme-Treme" (Shaky-Shaky) because of the tremors caused by the passage of heavy vehicles on Avenida do Estado, and was eventually demolished in 2011. The surrounding area remains disordered and hostile. 

Instead of being intimidated, Sesc Parque Dom Pedro II opens itself to the landscape, establishing an ambitious tree planting and landscaping program (extending the existing green area northward from the southernmost part of the park). The new construction echoes the importance of the neighboring Tamanduateí River – the city's third largest river, now reduced to a disastrous canal – seeking to connect, with its glass facades and perforated sheets, the various points of the city that have been sectioned off by speculative interests. 

“The project had three fundamental premises,” summarizes Fernanda Barbara, coordinator of the work alongside Fabio Valentim and partner at Una Barbara e Valentim — an office that continues the work begun at Una Arquitetos, author of the proposal that originated within the scope of the Dom Pedro II Park Urban Plan. The first was “to generate urban connections.” The second goal was to propose a building that would say: “we are in the historical center, we are next to the river, we are in the place where the city was born.” To create a building that would be a passageway, that would look out at the city, that would make it its grand stage. And the third challenge would be to resolve a very extensive program on a relatively small plot of land. 

Located at the northern end of the park, in a triangular area ceded to Sesc by the City Council, the new building rises without a main facade, without a back entrance, without hierarchy among its four entrances. And without fences. This contradicts the fragmented logic that marks the region and that for decades has prevented the connection of landmark places such as the Municipal Market, the cereal district, the 25 de Março street, the Sé region (historical hill) and Brás. 

Another integrating feature of the project is the choice to create gardens on the various floors – creating different viewpoints –, surrounding walkways, and translucent facades that allow for views of the urban landscape, generating references and transforming the building – at night – into a kind of lantern that illuminates and activates its surroundings. By day, the central body seems to float in a delicate volumetry – overlapping triangular planes with a slight twist – and contrasts with the massive block that houses the theater and the indoor pool, which emerges above it.

Construction began over five years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, and involved more than 33 projects and consultancies. A series of innovative solutions were incorporated, notably a coherence between architectural modernization and solutions with less environmental impact. It is surprising, for example, that a public parking lot was not planned – a conceptual and technical decision, since it would not make sense to build underground in a flood-prone area, the former Várzea do Carmo. Access to the new Sesc will be primarily by public transport, and the building also has a generous bicycle parking area.  

For the same reason, the building is situated imperceptibly 1-It is 2 meters above street level. It features an integrated rainwater harvesting and capillary irrigation system for the rooftop gardens, as well as an emphasis on natural ventilation – solutions that help explain the various awards the project has received even before its completion. The latest of these was... o The building has received the Holcim Foundation's sustainable building award in the Latin America category in 2025. It also holds LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, one of the most internationally recognized certifications in the field.

From an architectural standpoint, the building incorporates the main characteristic elements of other Sesc units, with a profile that combines culture and sports. It is surrounded by a reflecting pool, reminiscent of the one that cuts across the main hall of the Pompéia unit; it has a large cafeteria, a running track around it, and a multi-sports court. The indoor pool has a skylight that opens outwards. 

Built without beams, with multipurpose spaces, a library, and a set of workshops dedicated to different activities (from dance and body movements to studios related to printing and engraving on fabrics – echoing the proximity of places like 25 de Março and the Feira da Madrugada, in Brás), the unit is expected to host a series of exhibitions. The agenda is still being finalized, but it is already known that the inaugural exhibition will be "The Seven Turns of the Tamanduateí River," a historical, artistic, and anthropological exploration of the territory. Curated by Veronica Stigger and Eduardo Sterzi, the exhibition revisits, honors, and rediscovers aspects of the city and this river that was once wide and mighty, as can be seen, for example, in the painting "Flooding of the Várzea do Carmo," made by Benedito Calixto in 1892. 

A major highlight of the new Sesc is also the theater, which boasts extensive scenic and architectural resources. Multifunctional, it adapts to various compositions, being a suitable space to host contemporary productions that don't require a frontal theater. The chairs are movable and the back of the stage opens up to the city. There is no shortage of inviting touches – such as popcorn for R$ 1, popsicles for R$ 1,50 – that bring in the large audience. 

It is still too early to know the actual flow of people through the unit, but according to the Holcim website, an estimated daily audience of around 5 people is expected. Nor is it predictable what effect a Sesc unit will have on such a complex and fractured territory, from a social and urban point of view, as this one. However, Fernanda evokes Danilo Santos Miranda, director of Sesc between 1984 and 2023, when he passed away and was replaced by Luiz Galina, "who took on the project with love." When asked by someone from PMayor: “This place is very difficult, what are you going to do here?”, Miranda reportedly replied: “It’s because it’s difficult that we want to be here.”


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