Born firstly from the brilliant mind of entrepreneur Alex Allard, Cidade Matarazzo – Rosewood´s first hotel in South America aims to honor the rich history of Brazil, while also look to a more sustainable future.
Situated in a former hospital, this hotel is the centerpiece of Cidade Matarazzo, a complex of elegantly preserved buildings from the 20th century that has been transformed into a 320.00sqft mixed-used lifestyle hub.
Spearheaded by Mr Allard a group of legends in architecture and design, including Jean Nouvel, Philippe Starck and Rudy Ricciotti were hired to create something special for São Paulo.
To face the challenge of bringing light and soul to the world created by these legends, a special collaboration between LD Studio – a 27 year old architectural lighting design practice, based in Rio de Janeiro and OMstudio Lighting – a renowned architectural lighting design studio based in São Paulo has been settled.
Following Mr. Allard´s belief that you should follow your heart on everything, a visionary who believe that nothing is impossible and accepts nothing but your soul on a project. We have embraced this journey of nine years of nurturing, developing, building and commissioning this special place that is still being developed.
Starting from Starck´s highly detailed narrative for the interiors, in which he created an entire fantastic world with a storyboard for every space. We pursued the essential in the light composition, putting light on what really gives meaning to this vision; aiming to bring life to this special crafted world.
Warm tones of light have been used, as we wanted to bring in a time from the past, like the golden days of the hospital and Count Matarazzo´s apogee.
Uplights and general lighting were set at 2.400K, with accent and direct light at 2.700K. This lighting scheme brings to the interiors the perfect atmosphere desired, while delivering a great perception from the outside, bringing life to the buildings facades through its transparencies.
A careful eye for details and synthesis while integrating light into architectural details and millwork were key. Same while illuminating the great art collection of the hotel. Quite a delicate balance between keeping the idea of pursuing the essential and bringing the level of sophistication that this amazing complex requires.
This jouney was and still is a true adventure, undertaken with responsibility, care and passion. The challenges of budget constraints and tight deadlines were huge, but all obstacles were overcome thanks to an exceptional team and a very special piece of advice from Mr. Allard, “ fight for your design; don’t let commercial people restrain what is important to the project”
