engineering

Sampaio Moreira Building

Sampaio Moreira Building is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sampaio Moreira Building rather than just read about it. In short: The Sampaio Moreira Building (Portuguese: Edifício Sampaio Moreira) is located at 346 Líbero Badaró Street, in the central region of São Paulo. With twelve floors and a height of 50 metres (160 ft), the building was named Sampaio Moreira after its owner José de Sampaio Moreira (1866–1943), a merchant who the architect Christiano Stockler convinced in 1920 to make the building that would complete the Anhangabaú Park…

Key takeaways

Sampaio Moreira Building belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sampaio Moreira Building to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sampaio Moreira Building from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Sampaio Moreira Building (Portuguese: Edifício Sampaio Moreira) is located at 346 Líbero Badaró Street, in the central region of São Paulo. With twelve floors and a height of 50 metres (160 ft), the building was named Sampaio Moreira after its owner José de Sampaio Moreira (1866–1943), a merchant who the architect Christiano Stockler convinced in 1920 to make the building that would complete the Anhangabaú Park monument, which was finished four years later.

History A part of São Paulo's eclectic architecture, the building was designed by the architects Christiano Stockler and Samuel das Neves. With twelve floors and a height of 50 metres (160 ft), the Sampaio Moreira was the tallest building in São Paulo from 1924, when it was inaugurated, until 1929, when it was surpassed by the Martinelli Building. It is thus considered to be the first large multi-storey building in São Paulo, as well as one of the first in the country of its kind. Considered the "prototype" of São Paulo's skyscrapers - built at a time when the city's buildings had a maximum of four floors, the Sampaio Moreira is listed by CONPRESP (Municipal Council for the Preservation of São Paulo's Historical Heritage) due to its historical and architectural importance. It was managed by the Sampaio Moreira family and used as a commercial building. Since its inauguration, the first floor of the building has been home to Mercearia Godinho, a traditional commercial establishment in São Paulo, founded in 1890, then located at Praça da Sé. In the 1980s, restoration work was carried out on its main façade. In 2010 the building was expropriated by the São Paulo City Hall, and in 2012 work began on its recovery and restoration. In January 2013, the Casa Godinho grocery store was the first commercial establishment to be awarded the title of intangible cultural heritage of São Paulo by the Municipal Council for the Preservation of the Historical, Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the City of São Paulo. Thanks to the grocery store, the Sampaio Moreira, where it was located, hosted great names in Brazilian history, such as Assis Chateaubriand, Adhemar de Barros and Jânio Quadros. The skyscraper was designed in 1920 and completed four years later. Initially, it was supposed to be a residential building, then residential and commercial. However, it retained only commercial use from its inauguration until its closing. During its operation, it accommodated offices where goldsmiths, lawyers, engineers and architects worked. When the building was closed in 2010, some of the floors were made available for young artists to set up studios and use the space to create, providing a new use for it. The works created during this period were even exhibited in the building's garage. According to the current schedule, the building should be completely restored and reopened by the end of 2017. Sampaio Moreira is expected to house the Municipal Culture Department and to have other notable modifications to its thirteen floors.

Architectural features

Sampaio Moreira was built with reinforced concrete, a structure that uses frames made from steel bars. It has 5,360 km2 (2,070 sq mi) of built area and a land area of 596 km2 (230 sq mi). With an eclectic architectural style, it has typical Louis XVI-style decoration, which mixes rococo and neoclassicism. Its structure is rich in detail and the façade changes from floor to floor. It underwent a major structural renovation in 1990, but several features have been preserved, such as the Carrara marble staircases and the riga pine window frames, as well as the pergola of Greek columns on the roof.

Historical and cultural significance At the time of its construction, the building drew a lot of attention for its exquisite and detailed construction. It represented a major architectural revolution for the city as it was the first tall building to be built with reinforced concrete, as well as being the pioneer of São Paulo's skyscrapers, marking the landscape of the city's central region. Another highlight of the Sampaio Moreira was the permission to use its roof.

Heritage listing The building was listed in 1992, as stated in CONPRESP Resolution nº 37/92. The document decided to list another 292 buildings located in the Anhangabaú Valley area. Sampaio Moreira was classified at protection level III, which corresponds to properties of historical, architectural and landscape interest and determines the preservation of its external characteristics. The process allows for the restoration, revitalization and renovation of the property, subject to prior approval by CONPRESP.

Current situation The building's restoration project was designed by the São Paulo architectural firm Kruchin Arquitetura. Initially, the renovation was budgeted at 14 million reais and was due to be completed in 2016. However, there have been recurring delays and the building should only be reopened by the end of 2017, completely restored, with work already worth 20 million reais. The thirteen-storey Sampaio Moreira will become the new home of the Municipal Culture Department, currently located on São João Avenue, also downtown. In September 2018, the building was reopened and restored after seven years of renovations, and became the new headquarters of the Municipal Culture Department. The project also includes an auditorium, an open square, an internal garden and a restaurant on the roof of the building, which offers a great view of the Vale do Anhangabaú. However, according to the City Hall, not everything will be completed in the first stage. The square, for example, which will be built on a 400 km2 (150 sq mi) area next to the building, should be left to the next stage. Only the fifth floor, which held the office of Christiano Stockler das Neves, will be faithful to the old Sampaio Moreira. The floor will become a memorial, in which even the marks on the wall where Neves hung paintings will be kept, preserving the history of the place down to the smallest detail.

Gallery

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sampaio Moreira Building

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sampaio Moreira Building claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sampaio Moreira Building before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sampaio Moreira Building ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sampaio Moreira Building

In research: Sampaio Moreira Building appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sampaio Moreira Building in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sampaio Moreira Building is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1924 establishments in Brazil, Buildings and structures completed in 1924, Skyscrapers in São Paulo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sampaio Moreira Building outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sampaio Moreira Building in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sampaio Moreira Building means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sampaio Moreira Building out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sampaio Moreira Building in simple terms?

Why does Sampaio Moreira Building matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sampaio Moreira Building?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sampaio Moreira Building.