PACE

ARCHITECTS OFFICE

Short description

PACE Building: Architecture as Ritual, Time, and Landscape

The PACE building, designed by ARCHITECTS OFFICE for AG7 in Curitiba, Paraná, is a vertical architectural work that interprets the language of rituals and transformations. Standing 160 meters tall and structured in three stacked blocks-each with a distinct aesthetic and program-the building reveals the different phases of life through a visual journey that challenges the understanding of human experience evolution. The volumetric composition is conceived from a central structural core that allows the fluidity of cantilevered slabs, revealing light, organic facades integrated into the landscape.

Architecture as a Tool for Belonging
The first block, close to the ground, follows a systematic orthogonal grid, referencing the beginning of life, when the need to follow social rules and coexistence arises while identity is still developing. Extending to the 14th floor, it houses studio units, ideal for those beginning their journey of inhabiting and building belonging. The second block brings the creative chaos of transformations: duplex typologies with four suites and two or three-bedroom apartments occupy staggered slabs, with unpredictable forms materializing the complexity and intensity of adult life. Alternating planters on the facades create a near-random composition, intertwining architecture and vegetation in a way that provokes a more sensitive reading of the unpredictability of human relationships. This volume extends from the 15th to the 26th floor.
At the top, between floors 29 and 44, the third block embodies the idea of fullness. With minimalist, flat slabs, it houses one apartment per floor, offering a 360° view of Parque Barigui and the Serra do Mar-a living experience seeking balance, contemplation, and permanence. Displaced volumes between the blocks mark symbolic passages and create spaces for leisure, well-being, and sports, functioning as programmatic and temporal transitions.

Architectural Investigation in the Life Cycles
The name PACE refers to Eastern thought and its narrative structure based on the cycles of life-each stage with its learnings, responsibilities, and rituals. With this, the building listens to and interprets the needs of the present time, proposing a new way of coexisting with the city and nature. Situated on a preserved 1,900 m2 forest, with native species and an orchard surrounding it, the building offers residents an immersive experience in the natural environment.

The building also uniquely explores the concept of wellness, offering a complete hospitality center and spa with over 13 integrative therapies, reinforcing well-being as an essential pillar of contemporary living. The project investigates and proposes new forms of relationship between the human, the natural, and the built, going beyond the function of shelter to materialize an architecture that belongs, engages, and connects with the senses.

PACE is the third project by ARCHITECTS OFFICE for AG7-a partnership that has already produced Ícaro Casa Térrea and AGE 360, a finalist in the 2025 MIPIM Awards. Thus, PACE reaffirms AO's commitment to projects that provoke, challenge the conventional, and reveal new possibilities for urban living.