A see-through chute carrying cacao nibs winds above the heads of customers in this São Paulo chocolate shop, which has been designed by Matheus Farah e Manoel Maia Arquitetura.
The shop is set inside the four-floor Dengo Factory on Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, a major avenue in São Paulo that stretches through some of the city's most affluent neighbourhoods.
Glazing in the facade of the Dengo store helps showcase the brand's production process
Local studio Matheus Farah e Manoel Maia Arquitetura was charged with its design, having been briefed by Dengo to create a destination that offered a more detailed insight into the world of the chocolate brand.
"The architecture sought to recreate a chocolate factory in an attractive and didactic way so it could highlight Dengo's differential: controlling every stage of the production process," the practice explained. The building has a cross-laminated timber framework
Measuring a total 1,500 square metres, the factory building comprises a series of stacked, rectilinear frames made from cross-laminated timber.
The frames are fronted by red aluminium beams and expansive panels of glazing, meaning that from arrival guests can look in and catch glimpses of Dengo products being crafted.
A chute carrying cacao curves through the store's ground floor
Inside on the ground floor, partitions walls have largely been omitted to make way for a see-through duct that snakes it way across the ceiling.
It shows cacao nibs being transpo...