Occupation of Ford Factory

  • Prize
    Jury's Favorite in Architectural Design - Social Housing
  • Design Company
    Studio Mk27
  • Lead Designer
    Marcio Kogan and Mariana Simas
  • Architecture Firm
    Studio MK27
  • Construction Company
    Dox Engenharia
  • Photo Credit
    Studio doisdois (renderings)
  • Project Location
    São Paulo, Brazil
  • Client
    City of S
  • Project Date
    2025 (estimated)

The shelter on Sólon street is a social housing project for homeless people, which was developed in partnership with the city of São Paulo. Taking as a base a building that served as the first Ford factory in Brazil, the project develops through the ground floor and three other floors of the factory to work on the issue of social housing in the center of a large metropolis like São Paulo. The building consists of a main volume, built in 1930s, and two volumes annexed to the building itself, in the same language, followed later.
Based on an idea of modularity reflected in the factory itself, the project seeks a housing module, which could be articulated with others in the creation of small internal villages. The module designed, a small cube measuring 6m x 6m with rounded edges, is intended to serve three different housing configurations proposed by the city hall. The modules are united by the wet volume, the bathroom, which can sometimes be divided, articulating two housing capsules, or can be individual to the module, and articulated only infrastructurally to the next module. On the outside of the building, the modules are addapted for social and leisure programs.