Comercial Gastronômico Barrinha — fired-brick façade

Entrance — brick portal and native vegetation

Commercial & gastronomic · 2025 — under development

Comercial Gastronômico Barrinha

Barrinha · Cajueiro da Praia · Piauí · Brazil

Concept

Building the cultural and gastronomic independence of Barrinha.

“Piauí exists where the landscape resists.”

— Torquato Neto

Year2025 — under development
TypologyCommercial, gastronomic & cultural
Site area1,460.76 m²
Built area611 m² (ground + 1st floor)
ProgrammeShops, workshops, bars, restaurants, open-air cinema, itinerant spaces
LocationBarrinha · Cajueiro da Praia · Piauí
TechniquesSolid fired brick, concrete, triple ventilated façade
MaterialsFired brick, concrete, sand

Comercial Gastronômico Barrinha is a commercial and cultural complex born to give visibility and autonomy to local culture and cuisine — reconfiguring the "yellow house," for ten years a gathering point in the village, into a new centre of community life.

The project integrates shops, workshops, bars, restaurants, an open-air cinema, a bleacher and itinerant spaces, organised across two floors around the preserved yellow house.

Guidelines

A design born of the territory — and given back to it.

To value local commerce, use materials and construction techniques of the territory, give visibility to local culture, create spaces of encounter and learning, recover ancestralities and spread local values — and reconfigure the yellow house as the heart of the whole.

The result is a permeable building, strategically perforated to channel the wind and the flow of visitors, with generous eaves for solar protection and wind towers that enhance thermal comfort.

Biomimicry · the cactus

The cactus's resilience, translated into architecture.

“The cactus is not just a plant; it is a lesson in resilience. In its arid, thorny appearance, the cactus defies death and rises from the dry earth, showing the strength of its adaptation.”

— Euclides da Cunha, Os Sertões

FormRibs on the outer skin (cross-bonded brick) for shading; ventilated roofs and façades for convective cooling.
ProcessesFew openings exposed to direct radiation; nighttime ventilation to cool the structure.
SkinThick walls of high thermal inertia to regulate the interior temperature.

Passive comfort

Wind towers, ventilated façades and 1.5 m eaves.

Wind towerCaptures wind above roof level, channels and cools the air naturally, promoting cross ventilation and reducing indoor temperature.
Triple façadeOuter skin of fired brick in cross-bond, air gap, inner wall — passive cooling without air conditioning in the common areas.
Eaves1.5 m projection, protecting users and buildings from sun and rain.
CanopiesStrategic roof openings to let hot air escape.

Culture, commerce and belonging

A new centre for Barrinha.

13 new shops, 2 retrofitted shops and 2 bars, 6 restaurants, 3 itinerant spaces, open-air cinema, amphitheatre and the yellow house — open from 2 pm to 1 am, year-round.

Learn more about this project

Renderings for illustrative purposes only. Project under development — specifications and finishes subject to change without notice.