Edifício Gemini: construção formal e tectonicidade de um protótipo de habitação coletiva

Commissioned by the construction company Formaespaço, the Gemini residential complex was designed by the architect Eduardo de Almeida in 1969. The demand for new forms of housing encouraged the enterprise to design collective dwelling buildings which could be replicated and implemented in available lots in the city of São Paulo Paulo. The formal construction of Gemini and its rationalization reveal the architect’s work methodology and the importance of the structural system in the conception of the project. Aside from sustaining the building, the supporting structure plays a fundamental role in spatial organization and formalization of the architectural object. Allied to this, the application of formation criteria such as rigor, precision and economy denote the tectonic of the buildings. The purpose of the article is to clarify the formal construction and visual attributes of the Gemini complex, considered representative for its typology, construction and relationship with the city. Although conceived for the middle class, the design strategies adopted confer on the Gemini the possibility of adaptation to a wide range of realities and economic classes.