Congratulations to Livraria Cultura, which won a gold prize for its new store in Sao Paulo in the "environments" category in the 2008 Best of Brazilian Design competition, sponsored by IDEA/Brasil. The judges wrote:
"The execution of the new Livraria Cultura megastore project in Sao Paulo posed a series of challenges, such as integrating the bookshop into one of the city's landmarks, the Conjunto Nacional building . . . Another challenge consisted of adapting the old Cine Astor theater facilities--closed six years earlier--with its ramps, mezzanines and slopes designed for light-duty loads and incorporating them into the bookstore by reinforcing the whole structure to withstand up to 800 kg weights. The architectural project included the theater ramps to integrate the bookstore into the Conjunto Nacional building and also used ramps in the inner area to accommodate the building's spatial dynamics. The whole store can be viewed from the mezzanine floor."
Livraria Cultura was started in 1947 by Eva Herz in her living room, where she rented out 10 German-language books. The company, now owned by Eva's son, Pedro Herz, has seven stores--three in Sao Paulo, and one each in Campinas, Recife, Porto Alegre and Brasilia. This year Livraria Cultura is opening another store in Sao Paulo, in a new mall called Shopping Bourbon. For more about the company's history, see the October 24, 2006 edition of Shelf Awareness.