A Gala Venue® in a Modern Mixed-Used Office Tower in São Paulo is Ready to Open

Set for completion in 2020, the Birman 32 Tower on Faria Lima Avenue in São Paulo is an elegant, dynamic building designed by renowned Pei Architects in partnership with Eiji Hayakawa Architects. In line with the city’s revitalization planning policy, this commercial development, commissioned by Faria Lima Prime Properties (FLPP), aims to generate more benefits for its community by adding to its office spaces several restaurants as well as a state-of-the-art, fully flexible 500-seat theater. Equipped with a Gala Venue seating system, this space can transform itself automatically from a raked seating layout for live performances to a flat floor space for exhibitions and other social events for more than 800 people, creating numerous opportunities for meetings and events.

Getting it right for the B32 Tower theater

Although from the start an integral and essential part of the B32 project, the theater posed a dilemma as to whether its seating concept should be a premium fixed or a telescopic flexible auditorium. On the one hand, FLPP, working with acoustician Jose Nepomuceno from Acustica & Sonica, knew that building a single-purpose assembly auditorium – perfect for showcasing live performances – meant that it would sit empty most of the time. On the other hand, they also were aware that the versatility afforded by telescopic systems imposes serious constraints on storage, choice of seats, acoustics and sightlines, major drawbacks that would prevent them from building the premium theater sought for their prestigious tower. The solution came unexpectedly at the 2013 United States Institute for Theatre Technology Show where Jose Nepomuceno first heard about the automatic Gala Venue seating system. This latest type of conversion method – in which theater-style seats may be raised to variable heights or concealed underneath the floor structure – provides venues with numerous configurations, while always ensuring that each looks and feels as seamless and robust as a permanent single-purpose arrangement. That high level of auditorium quality and operational flexibility was exactly what FLPP needed for its modern tower. 

From this point on, a fruitful collaboration grew between Gala Systems and the tower design team, leading to the conception of a 221.7 square meter cantilevered multipurpose cultural space with posts beneath, which also creates a useful covered outdoor area.

The soon-to-be-opened B32 Tower theater will be capable of hosting various events that require entirely different space layouts, such as music, dance, theater, seminar, banquet, exhibition or other special events. With such versatility, FLPP no longer has concerns of being left with an underutilized costly theater, but instead expects that it will be a true gathering place for São Paulo’s citizens, contributing significantly to the overall offering of cultural, educational and corporate events.