ITEC | OSPA Architecture & Urban Design

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ITEC

Development

ITEC

Program

Institutional

Location

Gravataí, RS, BR

Status

Under Construction

Year

2025 - 2026

The Institute of Technology and Computing (ITEC) was founded as a philanthropic initiative dedicated to training professionals in the field of technology through a Bachelor’s program in Computer Science with immersive teaching and on-campus residency. With a curriculum developed by a specialist in computational logic, the selection process adopts a holistic approach, broadly considering individual trajectories. Most students will receive scholarships, with access to free tuition, housing, and meals. Campus life is an essential part of the proposal, strengthening the sense of community, promoting exchanges and collaborative networks, and providing an environment conducive to the students’ full development.

Located next to the Prado Condominium, in Gravataí (RS), the campus is strategically positioned within the metropolitan territory, with convenient access via BR-290 and proximity to urban centers such as Porto Alegre and Cachoeirinha. This location ensures mobility, infrastructure, and access to services, while also favoring the creation of an environment suited to study, innovation, and community life.

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The campus project will be implemented in phases, based on a preliminary study conducted by Gensler, adapted to local legislation and refined according to the project’s new guidelines. The buildings are organized by sector according to use: education, housing, sports, dining, social interaction, and management. The academic sector, positioned at the center of the site and connected to the main entrance, is structured around existing lakes, adopting a “pi” shape in its layout. The gymnasium, inserted within this complex, functions as an articulating element between blocks, housing sports activities and institutional events. The residential sector, more distant, occupies a reserved area, ensuring greater privacy for its residents.

The campus will feature two distinct access points. The main entrance accommodates the institutional gateway and welcomes students, visitors, and the broader community. The secondary entrance is intended for operations and maintenance, enabling logistical flows and residential access. Internal circulation is organized through shared streets, without level differences between sidewalks and roadways, reinforcing pedestrian and cyclist priority. Parking bays and bicycle racks are distributed along the main buildings and structural axes. In addition to the streets, two pedestrian axes cross the campus along the north–south and east–west directions, connecting the lakes and integrating the sectors.

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The design of the academic building begins with a defined concrete base, within which the interior spaces are enclosed by a glass box set back from its perimeter, creating a large terrace around the entire building. A roof matching the base footprint rests above, sheltering the space. External concrete pillars support the roof and articulate the façade’s modular rhythm.

Wood-clad volumes contain the most protected spaces, such as classrooms, multipurpose rooms, and administrative areas, projecting beyond the glass box, incorporating the pillars, and generating dynamism on the façade. Vertical circulation and support cores adopt a different treatment with a more solid character, following the same projection logic.

Access occurs through the ends—dining hall and lobby—and through the central portion, at the student commons. The double-height lobby is located along the campus’s main axis and houses the reception, an atrium with exhibition space, and a stepped seating area for events. Adjacent to the reception, psychological counseling rooms, a health clinic, and a career center provide student support.

Circulation to the other spaces flows through the student commons, where lounges and open workspaces configure a shared area.

Connected to this, enclosed multipurpose rooms enable tutoring sessions, meetings, and smaller-scale activities.

Two vertical circulation cores connect the levels. Both include wide protected staircases designed to remain open and serve as the primary means of movement, in addition to restroom facilities and technical areas. Between the cores lies the library, with controlled access through an antechamber to minimize noise. It includes individual and group study areas as well as video conferencing booths. Its glazed interface establishes visual integration with the student commons.

The dining hall, located at the end opposite the main lobby, has 80 indoor seats and expansion capacity to accommodate all project phases.

On the second floor, the program concentrates classrooms, administrative spaces, faculty offices, tutoring, and student services. A mezzanine and a multipurpose room connect to the lobby and stepped seating area, supporting visibility for events and presentations.

The residential building houses student dormitories distributed over four floors. Its volumetry follows a linear, modular bar clad in ceramic tiles. Units are organized in a front-and-back layout, separated by horizontal circulation. The main entrance is positioned at the central section of the building and functions as a common area, linking interior spaces with the campus landscape.

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Units and common areas feature alternating balconies which, together with the rhythm of the windows and the exposed structural elements, confer dynamism to the façade. The exposed structural components, in a graphite tone, share the same finish as the windows and balconies. The building is crowned by a metal roof that shelters a protected terrace on the top floor. This communal space can be activated for events or future expansions.

Info

DEVELOPER | ABF Developments

Team

PARTNER IN CHARGE | Carolina Corrêa
PROJECT LEADER | Renan Reck
SPECIALISTS | Carolina Souza Pinto, Cristiano Carneiro, Franco Miotto.
ARCHITECTURE | Renan Reck, Bruna Ibrahim, Guilherme Silva, André Brandelli, Cássia Lacerda, Guilherme Carlos, Júlia Schultz, Bruno Hirschmann, Valentina Ampezzan

Collaborators

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