The design of the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) focused on a new way of occupying the workspace, based primarily on the integration and transparency of its environments.
The site enjoys a privileged view of Brasília’s Monumental Axis from the 11th floor of a newly opened office building. For this reason, the first move of the project was to remove the walls that separated the nine commercial units, opening up sight lines from the reception area and unifying the space. The areas that could not be demolished (restrooms and corridors) were altered as little as possible to accommodate the service functions. In this way, two clear circulation axes were defined, starting from the existing elevator cores: a service axis, restricted to staff, and a social axis, for the general public.
The void left by the demolition was divided into two further cores: on the larger side, the work rooms and executive offices; on the smaller side, the lounges, meeting rooms and auditorium.
This makes it possible to host events for international delegations without directly interfering with WFP’s daily work. Likewise, the use of sliding doors allows the cores to expand and all of the agency’s rooms to be integrated. This gesture was fundamental to creating multifunctional environments suited at once to work and socializing, to the formal and the informal.
The interior design sought to humanize the spaces through the contrast of sensory elements – potted plants and jute textures, which evoke plantations and food sacks – with the existing furniture, which is sober in character. In the central void, the ceiling was left exposed, revealing the concrete structure, and the air-conditioning ducts were painted a greenish-gray tone, as was the auditorium. To reinforce continuity and fluidity between the cores, gray vinyl flooring was applied throughout the agency. The executive offices and meeting rooms are white so as not to compete with the landscape. Finally, the reception desk was filled with soil, a modest reminder of the essential origin of food.
