The first commercial building created by Smart! Lifestyle + Design, from Porto Alegre, Brazil, the Germano 508 is a Officeconcept with commercial rooms ranging from 56 to 114 m², featured in Loft, Garden and Studio versions. The project launched in 2012 and reached its completion in 2014. The building is located at Germano Petersen Jr Street, in a 395 m² terrain, and features a total area of 1279 m², including the ground floor and four storeys.
Germano 508 is inspired by boutique hotels, where space identity is, at the same time, daring enough to connect contemporary values and to stand out in front of the great hotel chains, but still neutral enough to aggregate different profiles, as if the hotel was an extension of the universe and identity of its tenants. Thus arises the “office boutique” concept, where companies can perform their activities in a space that dialogues directly with their identities and contributes to widen and strengthen it through its architecture and services, in a manner that is both gentle, convenient, intimate and not oppressive at all. A space thought of for companies from the Creative Industry, with a freedom of space designed for free minds.
The open plan was designed with different adaptations in mind, functioning as well without walls as with divisions that can be more than just walls. Open and shut windows, curtains, furniture or glass panels that split or integrate environments, residents coexisting or looking for privacy. The architectural project was completely directed towards regulating and taking advantage of the entrance of natural light.
For the interiors, the proposal developed by Maena Architecture and Design predicted straight and rational lines added to the use of organic materials such as burnt cement texture, Portuguese limestone and wood. Thus proposing a light and minimalist characteristic and, simultaneously, remaining materially cozy and intimate.
One of the curious elements in the Germano 508 Officeconcept was the option for the red self-illuminated red acrylic flower boxes. The suggestion for self-illuminating came for the lighting project creator, Arch. Eduardo Becker, from Atelier da Iluminação, and supported by the security consultant, aiming to bring an element of nocturnal activation for the building, enabling indirect security for the building itself but also its surroundings, as it demonstrates its “24 hour functioning”.
