The building is located in the Vila da Serra neighborhood of Nova Lima, a district in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (RMBH) neighboring Minas Gerais. It is the largest building with a metallic structure[3] and the second tallest commercial building in the country and the tallest in the Southeast region and Minas Gerais at 172 meters tall.[4]
The project belongs to the American real estate developer Tishman Speyer and Brazilian construction company Costrutora Caparaó, which, according to Daniel Cherman, president of Tishman Speyer, was built "[...] because Belo Horizonte was lackning of a high-quality mixed-use development project".[5] The building has 44 floors, with 31 commercial floors, 8 parking floors, 4 residential lofts (one per floor) and a helipad, as well as space for shops and a restaurant on the ground floor. Its core was built in concrete, but the structure is predominantly in steel, with steel deck slabs and is covered by a glass curtain. The shape appears to be that of a prism, but the four sides have slits that give it a shape similar to a pinwheel. In addition to the aesthetic purpose, the slits serve to ventilate the floors and allow air to enter the building's central cooling system.[4]
The Vila da Serra region, in which it is located, borders the Center-South region of Belo Horizonte. Since the 2000s, it has been one of the largest growth vectors in the RMBH, both in terms of residential and commercial buildings, which have already totaled more than R$6.5 billion in investments and 30 thousand inhabitants who have migrated from the capital, according to IPEA economist Thiago Jardim.[6]
The building is pre-certified to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold sustainability seal.[7]
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São Paulo skyline in 2014.
