Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2026
Baffi Restaurant
- A' Design Award 2026 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Alencar
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 20,589
- Verification code 34A36B7B1F · Verify this award
About Baffi Restaurant
The Baffi Restaurant is located inside Matria Parque de Flores, the largest flower park in Latin America. The project was developed to follow the existing topography, partially embedding the building into the landscape. This approach reduces visual impact and creates a close connection between architecture and nature, offering views of the lake, gardens and surrounding hills. Its structure uses natural materials and passive design strategies to provide comfort and reduce energy consumption. The result is a functional space that respects the site and enhances the experience of visitors.
Nicholas Alencar's Baffi Restaurant represents a distinguished achievement in contemporary hospitality architecture, demonstrating how bold structural ambition can achieve harmonious dialogue with natural landscape rather than dominating it; the design participates in an enduring architectural conversation about shelter, prospect, and refuge—fundamental human spatial needs that here find expression through a sweeping concrete canopy that appears to have emerged organically from the rolling terrain rather than being imposed upon it; the catenary-inspired profile suggests both natural phenomena—the crest of a wave, the arch of a hillside—and sophisticated structural engineering that distributes loads efficiently while creating generous interior volumes; the extensive glazed facade beneath this protective gesture establishes a threshold condition between interior comfort and exterior prospect, allowing occupants to remain sheltered while maintaining visual and psychological connection to the expansive landscape of water, sky, and pastoral hills; particular technical accomplishment appears in the seamless integration of the concrete shell with the earth berming at both extremities, suggesting either literal green roof continuation or careful grading that allows the structure to read as landform rather than isolated object; the chromatic restraint of the concrete palette, likely achieved through careful aggregate selection and finishing, allows the architecture to recede while the natural environment provides chromatic richness through seasonal vegetation changes and atmospheric conditions; the siting demonstrates acute sensitivity to orientation, capturing views across the water while positioning the structure as focal point when approached from the opposite shore; thematically, the work invites contemplation of architecture's capacity to frame human experience of landscape, creating a vessel for gathering that enhances rather than diminishes connection to place; viewers might consider how the horizontal gesture of the canopy echoes and amplifies the natural horizontality of water and land while the vertical glazing creates rhythm and human scale within the sheltering embrace.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The Baffi Restaurant is a landmark in contemporary Brazilian architecture, located in Matria Parque de Flores, the biggest flower park in Latin America. The project was designed to camouflage itself in the existing relief, reflecting the perfect integration between architecture, nature, and functionality. It is an example of how architecture can be both impactful and delicately inserted into the natural context.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The Baffi Restaurant has a total area of 743.34 square meters. The full park covers a total area of 50 hectares.
- Tags
- Restaurant, Flower Park, Brazil, Landscape, Commercial Architecture, Sustainability, Social Impact
- Production Technology
- The design was developed through an iterative process combining digital modeling and on-site adaptations. Materials were sourced locally to minimize environmental impact, with a focus on concrete fabrication techniques adapted to the region. Sustainability guided every step, from preserving the site’s natural topography to implementing passive environmental strategies. The project also involved training local workers, ensuring long-term benefits for the community and the built environment.
- Design Challenge
- The biggest challenge was balancing sustainability with feasibility. We navigated material limitations, local regulations, and budget constraints while ensuring environmental impact reduction. Socially, integrating community needs required extensive research and engagement. Technologically, adapting passive strategies to varied climates demanded innovative solutions. Overcoming these obstacles led to a resilient, efficient, and community-driven design.
- Project Duration
- The project started in July 2019 in Sao Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was completed in February 2022.
- Operation Flow
- The restaurant seamlessly blends into the landscape, inviting visitors to experience nature through architecture. Large glass openings connect indoor and outdoor spaces, offering panoramic views of the gardens. The design enhances comfort with natural ventilation and lighting, creating a warm and immersive atmosphere. Visitors engage with the space fluidly, enjoying an experience that evolves with the seasons, reinforcing a deep connection with the surrounding environment.
- Research
- The research focused on sustainable architecture, aiming to integrate design with environmental responsibility. Using case studies and site analysis, we examined materials, climate impact, and user experience. Data was collected through field studies and expert consultations. Insights led to passive strategies that reduce energy consumption. The findings influence real-world design, promoting eco-conscious solutions that benefit both businesses and communities.
- Inspiration
- The project was born from the dream of the Piazza family. Upon realizing the magnitude of this endeavor and what it would take to bring it to life, this dream became our dream. It was necessary to train and professionalize hundreds of residents to achieve this goal. A total of 250 people were mobilized for the single purpose of planting flowers. Residents of this small town acquired new skills and found a renewed sense of purpose, proud of the strength of their city.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Leonardo Finotti, Mátria, 2022.
Image #2: Photographer Leonardo Finotti, Mátria, 2022.
Image #3: Photographer Leonardo Finotti, Mátria, 2022.
Image #4: Photographer Leonardo Finotti, Mátria, 2022.
Image #5: Photographer Leonardo Finotti, Mátria, 2022.
Colors of Baffi Restaurant
Grand Interview about Baffi Restaurant
The realization that the building should emerge from the topography came when we understood that the site already possessed an intelligence of its own.There is a tendency in architecture to assume that a project begins when the architect arrives. I believe the opposite. A project begins long before us. It is already present in the geography, the vegetation, the water, the winds, and the history of a place.At Mátria Flower Park, the landscape was so extraordinary that any attempt at architectural protagonism felt misguided. The question was no longer how to design a restaurant, but how to allow people to experience that landscape more intensely.That is why the building does not simply sit on the land. It appears to emerge from it.Not as a formal gesture, but as a philosophical position. Architecture did not need to compete with nature. It needed to help reveal it.Perhaps one of the greatest responsibilities of contemporary architecture is precisely this: to create presence without creating domination.
São Francisco de Paula has a climate that demands respect. Harsh winters, significant temperature variations, constant winds, and a very close relationship with nature.Rather than fighting these conditions, we sought to learn from them.The building’s placement, solar orientation, the thermal mass of the concrete, the overhangs, natural ventilation, and integration with the topography were all designed to reduce dependence on artificial systems.But the most important lesson was not technical.It was understanding that sustainability is not a collection of technologies. It is a form of intelligence.When a building works with the climate rather than against it, it consumes fewer resources, provides greater comfort, and creates a more meaningful connection to place.Perhaps the most sustainable architecture is the one that makes what required immense effort to conceive appear completely natural.
A project does not transform only a site. It transforms people.The construction process at Mátria taught us that architecture, economics, and community are not separate subjects. They are parts of the same system.By engaging local labor, technical training programs, and regional suppliers, we realized that the project's impact extended far beyond the physical boundaries of the building.The restaurant was built by people who began to see new professional possibilities for their own lives. That profoundly changed the way we think about architecture.Architecture should not be measured only by what it builds. It should also be measured by the knowledge it leaves behind, the opportunities it creates, and the human networks it strengthens.Perhaps the most important outcome of a project is not the completed building itself. Perhaps it is the invisible transformation that remains after it.
The greatest risk when confronted with an extraordinary landscape is believing that it requires an extraordinary building.At Mátria, we chose a different path.We tried to create a quiet building.Its scale was carefully controlled. The materials were selected to resonate with the tones of the landscape. The siting minimized earthworks. The architecture was conceived as a continuation of the park itself.There is a phrase I particularly like: when everything shouts, nothing is heard.In a place like Mátria, nature was already the protagonist. Our role was to create a frame capable of enriching that experience.We knew we had found the right balance when many visitors remembered the landscape first and only later the architecture.For us, that is not a failure.It is exactly the goal.
Witnessing the transformation of people was perhaps one of the most meaningful experiences of my professional career.We often speak about the impact of buildings. Rarely do we speak about the impact of processes.Throughout construction, we watched workers learn new techniques, take on new responsibilities, and develop a genuine sense of pride in what they were creating.Gradually, the project ceased to belong solely to the client, the architect, or the technical team.It became something that belonged to the community.And when that happens, architecture acquires a much greater dimension.It stops being merely a commission and becomes a source of collective identity and emotional connection.Mátria taught me that the best projects are not the ones people simply visit.They are the ones people feel they are part of.
The large openings were not born from a search for transparency. They were born from a search for framing.The landscape at Mátria is vast. Precisely because of that, it needed to be edited.We spent a great deal of time studying circulation paths, views, eye levels, solar exposure, and the relationship between the building and the water, gardens, and hills.Each opening functions almost like a lens.Architecture selects, organizes, and intensifies the experience of the landscape.There is something cinematic about this process.We do not reveal everything at once. We create sequences, discoveries, and layers of perception.Architecture is not only about creating spaces.It is also about creating ways of seeing.
Receiving an international award is a great honor. But I believe the most important aspect is not the recognition itself.What truly matters is seeing themes such as integration with nature, environmental performance, and social impact becoming central to the global architectural conversation.Mátria reinforced a conviction we already held: buildings must generate benefits that extend beyond their own boundaries.In the coming years, we hope to deepen our work on environmental regeneration, green infrastructure, community building, and the creation of spaces capable of improving collective life.The architecture of the future will be less about objects and more about ecosystems. Less about isolated buildings and more about relationships.
There is an aspect of Mátria that perhaps still receives less attention than it deserves.People often see the finished building, but rarely the network of human relationships that made it possible.The project endured a pandemic, economic uncertainty, logistical challenges, and an extremely complex construction process. Yet it moved forward—not because it was a building, but because there was a shared sense of purpose behind it.If there is one thing I would like architects, clients, and communities to understand, it is that architecture is a collective endeavor.No meaningful work is the result of a single author.It emerges from the collaboration of hundreds of people who believe in a shared vision of the future.
Restraint was a conscious decision.We live in an era in which many buildings seek attention at any cost. Mátria attempted the opposite.When a building occupies only a small portion of such a vast territory, it must embrace a certain humility.But humility does not mean a lack of intention.It means knowing where to concentrate energy.Rather than expanding its physical presence, the restaurant seeks to intensify the experience itself.It occupies little space, yet it organizes views, paths, encounters, and relationships with the landscape.The strength of architecture is not always found in what it adds.Very often, it lies in what it chooses to preserve.
The main lesson I learned during the development of Mátria is that relinquishing control can sometimes lead to better outcomes.Architects are trained to design, organize, and define.Yet some of the most valuable moments of the project emerged when we chose to listen.To listen to the land.To listen to the climate.To listen to the community.To listen to natural processes.No book can teach this completely, because it is not merely a matter of technical knowledge.It is about developing humility in the face of the world's complexity.Perhaps the highest level of maturity an architect can achieve is understanding that we are not designing upon nature, the city, or people.We are designing with them.And that changes everything.