User:TheNk22/Sesc 24 de Maio

The SESC 24 de Maio is a building in the centre of the Brazilian city of São Paulo, designed by architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha and MMBB Arquitetos.

https://www.archdaily.com/893553/sesc-24-de-maio-paulo-mendes-da-rocha-plus-mmbb-arquitetos https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/social-climber-sesc-24-de-maio-cultural-centre-in-so-paulo-brazil-by-paulo-mendes-da-rocha-and-mmbb-arquitetos/10044798.article https://www.designboom.com/architecture/mmbb-paulo-mendes-da-rocha-sesc-24-de-maio-sao-paulo-brazil-03-05-2018/

History
In 1946, SESC (Serviço Social do Comércio) was founded in Rio de Janeiro by a group of private businesses, initially to provide healthcare to employees and their families but quickly expanding into other Brazilian states and diversifying into programmes such as theatres, gyms and holiday camps. A non-profit but private institution, SESC is funded by a 1.5 per cent tax on workers in commerce – specific services and activities are reserved for its paying members but the centres are free for everyone to enter.

Incredibly, there are now over 600 SESC centres across Brazil, and 39 in São Paulo alone, each offering a rich and diverse range of programmes from gallery spaces and reading rooms to swimming pools and restaurants. For many architects, it is a dream brief, and has produced one of the most significant buildings in Brazil: Lina Bo Bardi’s staggering SESC Pompéia, finished in 1986. Reimagining an old barrel factory as a utopian, post-industrial pleasure palace, Bo Bardi inserted a library up in the factory’s saw-tooth roof, carved a bubbling stream out of the concrete floor, and constructed a miniature city of workshops for weaving, woodwork, painting, sculpting and printing within the walls of the warehouses. Sports courts and a swimming pool are packed into a concrete fortress, standing protectively over sunbathers and playing children.

Site
The Rua 24 de Maio (24th of May Street) is located between the Praça da República and the Theatro Municipal in São Paulo