Valeo is a French global automotive supplier headquartered in France with 186 production plants, 59 R&D centers, and 15 distribution platforms around the world. This facility accommodates 700 staff in 110,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 70,000 square feet of laboratory / research and administrative spaces. The challenge here was to build a signature large-scale industrial building on a steeply sloped site next to the São Paulo-Rio highway.

Starting with an optimal structural grid, the building is divided into four longitudinal bands that begin to curve away from each other. The continuous galvanized metal surfaces this creates provide excellent drainage in tropical storms. Slicing the building into attenuated, sinuous volumes also generates an expressive profile that harmonizes with the surrounding hills. The varied heights of the volumes allow for natural light and ventilation, both reducing energy consumption and improving the working environment. Through careful positioning of programmatic areas and clever use of existing topography, cut and fill were equalized requiring no offsite trucking of soil.

The internal layout eliminates physical impediments to promote integration, collaboration and flexibility among departments (fabrication, laboratories and administration) and adapt to changes in technology and the industrial process.