01/04/2026
DBN Sistemas Construtivos
New corporate office
Porto Alegre, Brazil / 2026
Área: 400 Sqm
Design and build-out management
FPA Felipe Pacheco Arquitetos
> Felipe Pacheco, Arq. Ms.
> Marina Corso Enet, Arq.
> Alexia Becker, Arq.
This is the new administrative office for DBN Sistemas Construtivos, a local construction company from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. With expansive views of the Rio Guaíba and the heart of Porto Alegre’s Centro Histórico, the office occupies half a floor of the Palácio do Comércio: the historic building inaugurated in 1940 by then-President Getúlio Vargas. Designed in the Art Deco style by German architect Joseph Franz Lutzenberger, Palácio do Comércio occupies a small city block facing the Mauá Wharf, next to the Public Market, and houses important local institutions such as the Porto Alegre Commercial Association and Federation of Commercial and Service Associations of Rio Grande do Sul (Federasul). Although the building’s floor plans are symmetrical, there is a clear distinction on the ground floor between main access and service access – east and west –, which is repeated in the body floor plans. The office space is clearly subdivided into a serving and served areas, both symmetrically shaped in response to the original floor plan. The serving area encompasses the central void of the building, containing restrooms, a kitchen, and support areas such as a data processing center, printing, and plotting facilities. The served area houses the actual workspaces, organized in a box-in-box system, which is established by three boxes asymmetrically disposed in the main nave. From the strategic arrangement of the boxes emerge three open spaces – a common area, a budgeting area, and a project area – as well as a circulation path that runs longitudinally throughout the office, leading to the three executive offices on the west side. Furthermore, the box-in-box system provides unobstructed views of the exterior for all office users. (continued below)
Photos: Emílio Rothfuchs
