Portofino Vila Madalena

History

The building is the work of Rossi Residencial, and its history is fully documented by the city. The City Hall approved the building permit for new construction on 26 October 2002, with Rossi as the owner, 1,564 m² of land and 11,466 m² of buildable area; the execution permit was issued on 18 March 2003. The architectural design is by Márcio Curi & Azevedo Antunesi — the practice founded in 1998 that, from 2008 onward, began signing as MCAA Arquitetosi. When the credit carries the longer name, as it does here, it dates the building to the house’s first cycle: exactly the vintage when São Paulo development discovered the large-footprint residential tower outside Jardinsi.

The decision that defines the product is density. Eleven thousand four hundred square metres of built area on a plot of one thousand five hundred and sixty-four — and yet, one door per floor. The building traded number of units for unit size, in a neighbourhood that at the time had not yet learned to do that.

• Concept: the whole floor plate for a single family, with 261 m² of private area, on a plot where the law would allow far more doors.
• Curiosities: the Census address register lists the apartments numbered 11, 21, 31 and so on up to 281 — all ending in 1, the arithmetic signature of one apartment per floor, from the first to the twenty-eighth storey.
• Not to be confused with: this is the Portofino on Rua Pascoal Vita, in Vila Madalenai, built by Rossi Residencial with design by Márcio Curi & Azevedo Antunesi. There is a second building with the same market name, Portofino Santa Cecíliai, on Rua São Vicente de Paulo, in Santa Cecíliai, with no documented developer: they are homonyms, with no relation to each other — separated by neighbourhood and by origin.

Architecture and aesthetics

A single tower, set on a podium that occupies almost two-thirds of the plot: the municipal aerial survey records a continuous footprint of 1,014.2 m² on a plot of 1,564 m², with the podium and the tower read as a single body. The maths that defines the interior is the usual one for this typology — with 261 m² of private area and a single unit per floor, the circulation core, the hall and the risers are entirely at the service of one family, and the floor plan can open onto all four faces. The relationship between the built area declared on the permit (11,466 m²) and the twenty-eight units gives around 410 m² gross per apartment, parking included: that is the slack that sets this vintage apart from the verticalisation that came later. The interior design and landscaping credits are not publicly documented and, for that reason, are not attributed here.

Aesthetics and scarcity

Technical specifications

• Towers and units: 1 tower, 28 storeys, 1 apartment per floor, 28 units. The 2022 Census address register numbers the apartments from 11 to 281, all ending in 1.
• Areas: 261 m² in the standard floor plan, with 3 to 4 bedrooms and 5 to 6 bathrooms.
• Parking spaces: 4 in the 261 m² floor plan.
• Structural highlights: one apartment per floor throughout the tower · 11,466 m² of built area on 1,564 m² of land, with a single door per floor plate · gourmet terrace integrated with the living room in the standard floor plan.
• Registry and parameters: 1 tower · 28 storeys · 28 units · 1 apartment per floor · 3 to 4 bedrooms · 4 parking spaces · private area of 261 m² · plot of 1,564 m² · built area of 11,466 m² · measured footprint of 1,014.2 m² · new-construction building permit approved on 26/10/2002 and execution permit on 18/03/2003 · tax lot sector 081, block 124, condominium 08 · registry jurisdiction 10º Registro de Imóveis de São Pauloi, Vila Madalena subdistrict · zoning ZM (Law 16.402/2016).

Location and surroundings

Points of interest · distances in metres

Vila Madalena: the address

Rua Pascoal Vita lies in the stretch of Vila Madalenai that is no longer bohemian and not yet Alto de Pinheirosi: a residential, tree-lined street with local traffic, on a block the market calls a border and which, in practice, is the best of both worlds — the shops, bars and galleries of Vila Madalena within walking distance, the calm of the Alto de Pinheiros blocks one street away. Colégio Santa Cruzi is within the same walking radius and anchors the family profile of the stretch; Parque Villa-Lobosi and Parque Córrego das Corujasi take care of the greenery; Avenida Pedroso de Moraisi, Avenida Sumaréi and Estação Vila Madalenai provide the way out into the city, and Marginal Pinheirosi is a few minutes away via Avenida Diógenes Ribeiro de Limai. It is the address for those who want Vila Madalena without the noise.