Itaim Bibi is one of the most sophisticated and wealthy neighbourhoods of São Paulo. Here we can find some of the Brazilian architectural classics, like the Art Museum of São Paulo, designed by Lina Bo Bardi in 1947, or Casa Bola, built in 1979 by Eduardo Longo.

Given the attractiveness of the area, also featuring vibrant nightlife, Itaim Bibi is rapidly changing its skyline and morphology, replacing towers and dense buildings to the existing low houses. Grown too quickly, the new constructions form a clumsy, banal and low quality landscape. 

This stimulating and contradictory urban condition has given rise to the project by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, a slender and colourful building with 123 small apartments on 25 floors, each with its own private open space.

Torre Forma is composed of two parallel volumes, joined by a vertical distribution core. The dwellings are located on the north-south axis and are protected from the sun's rays by deep loggias, which mitigate the often very hot climate.

The east and west facades are clad with pleated bands of coloured ceramics, which turn into large vertically arranged brise-soleils at the loggias. The use of colour – strongly desired by the client – makes the building immediately identifiable in the midst of the wild built landscape, but also serves to give identity to the individual floors.

Each living unit is recognisable by its shade and geometric scheme regulating the structure. The difference in height between the two blocks creates large terraces on the top floors that overlook the entire city.