The relationships between architecture, landscape, and community guided the creation of the new administrative center for the state of Maranhão (Cae Maranhão). The open call, with a very specific brief, envisioned the construction of an annex and the adaptation of an existing structure. We sought to optimize the space at hand by shaping the concept of a new way to occupy the terrain, currently dominated by cars.

With the center located on a mangrove swamp and having been completely divorced from its surroundings in the past, we explored a new topography for the area. The idea was to draw connections to the building’s surroundings and create a flexible space connecting the city and the nature within it.