Petrobras Headquarters, Corporate headquarters building at Avenida República do Chile, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Petrobras Headquarters, nicknamed Edise, is a 29-storey, 108-metre brutalist office tower on Avenida República do Chile in central Rio de Janeiro, next to the Metropolitan Cathedral. Its façade recesses create a layered grid of concrete and glass that shades the interior from sun and heat.
A national competition run by the Instituto dos Arquitetos do Brasil chose Roberto Luís Gandolfi's design from more than 200 entries, and the building went up between 1969 and 1974. Its facade recesses shade the interior from sun and heat. Five years after completion, the Metropolitan Cathedral opened next door. A fire destroyed the top-floor communications room on 19 May 2004.
Employees call the building Edise, and the gardens by Roberto Burle Marx, indoors and outdoors, keep their original layout, listed by the city. The 2021 revitalization also renewed these gardens. The Metropolitan Cathedral, inaugurated five years after the tower was finished, stands right next door.
The building stands on Avenida República do Chile, directly beside the Metropolitan Cathedral, in the Centro neighbourhood. It is an office headquarters not open to the public, so it is seen from the street; the surrounding gardens designed by Burle Marx can be viewed from outside.
The top floor caught fire on 19 May 2004, destroying the communications room. The building's gardens, indoors and outdoors, were designed by Roberto Burle Marx and keep their original layout, listed by the city.
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