Office
Praia, Cape Verde
The offices are organised as open, flexible floors around the central core. Large areas of shared workspace allow the organisation to change over time, while the structural strategy reduces the constraints imposed by the building itself.
Use
Office
Local
Praia, Cape Verde
Status
Concept Design
Year
2025
Type
Competition
Size
1770 m2
Images
OODA
Collaboration
Two envelopes make the building. The first is glass, wide-opening frames on a regular grid, for light and for cross ventilation. The second is concrete, blades standing clear of the first, angled and unevenly spaced. They shade the glass, reducing solar heat gain while controlling the entry of natural light. Between the two, the air moves.
Behind this outer layer, the building opens around a central void. It runs through the floors, bringing daylight deep into the plan and establishing a visual connection between the different levels. A free-standing staircase, wrapped in timber, occupies this space. It is circulation, but also a place of encounter, a vertical element that makes the movement between departments visible.
Concrete gives the building its weight and permanence; local basalt connects it to the island’s material resources; timber introduces warmth into the interior and around the central staircase. Together, these materials establish a balance between robustness and intimacy, between the institutional character of the headquarters and the everyday life of the people who occupy it.
