Within São Paulo’s Lapi creative complex, Clube transforms a former industrial space into the new ÃO atelier and showroom where fashion production becomes an integral part of the visitor experience. Translucent curtain partitions selectively reveal pattern-making and garment construction while preserving the intimacy of craftsmanship. Preserved brickwork, exposed steel elements, and flexible textile enclosures create an adaptable framework that accommodates retail, production, exhibitions, and community events within a single spatial landscape.
Located within Lapi, São Paulo, a creative complex that accommodates independent fashion and design practices, the new ÃO atelier and showroom by Clube reinterprets the relationship between production, display, and social interaction.
The project stages them within a single open environment where visitors are invited to engage with the processes behind the garments as much as with the finished pieces themselves.
The intervention builds upon the existing architectural character of the former industrial structure.
Exposed brick walls, visible metal reinforcements, concrete floors, and a restrained palette of light earthy tones are carefully preserved, allowing the building’s material history to remain present. Against this robust backdrop, Clube introduces a series of lightweight textile elements that establish a softer and more fluid spatial order.
At the centre of the project, two suspended planes of translucent curtains divide the atelier from the showroom without creating rigid boundaries.
Their semi-transparent surfaces filter views and light, simultaneously concealing and revealing the activities of pattern-making, prototyping, and garment production.
The result is a spatial condition that preserves the intimacy of craftsmanship while transforming the act of making into part of the visitor experience.
A third intervention takes the form of a cylindrical enclosure wrapped in opaque fabric. Functioning as a fitting room, this sculptural volume introduces a moment of privacy within the otherwise open layout, accommodating extended fittings, consultations, and small groups.
Together, the white, grey, and beige textile elements create a layered composition whose shifting transparencies generate depth and visual ambiguity throughout the interior.
The project’s flexibility extends beyond everyday use. Curtains can be reconfigured to support exhibitions, product launches, presentations, cocktails, and cultural gatherings, allowing the space to evolve according to changing programs.
Carefully selected furniture, industrial shelving, mirrors, and custom display structures complete the environment, reinforcing the dialogue between atelier and showroom.
Through a minimal yet highly atmospheric intervention, Clube transforms ÃO’s new home into a space where fashion production, retail, and community coexist within a continuously adaptable architectural framework.
Plans
Facts & Credits
Project title: ÃO ATELIER/SHOWROOM
Project type: Commercial, Interiors
Project location: Lapi, Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil
Area: 90 m2
Architecture: Clube
Lead architect: Gabriel Biselli
Design team: Yven Dellemann, Leonard Wanoschek, Luís Botter Maio and Céleste Assal
Photography: © Marina Lima