For some companies that have product development,

production and sales services at the same time,

 it is very necessary to have a separate office building,

which will facilitate resource integration and improve communication efficiency.

 Brazil's 【Ipanema Coffees】is such a business, located in Minas Gerais (Minas Gerais).

This building that looks like a chocolate pile is the integrated office building of 【Ipanema Coffees】,

which produces and sells specialty coffees around the world.

Since sustainability is a premise of architectural design,

the company owners decided to use shipping containers for their new office buildings,

creating an impactful assemblage of containers.

Based on this concept, the Sartori design team conceived

the architectural structure of the Ipanema Coffee Lab by stacking seven containers.

The seven containers are treated with PET wool,

a sustainable material that replaces rock and glass wool.

In addition, the building features a green roof anaerobic

bio-digestion system to reprocess water for garden irrigation,

and photovoltaic panels are among the other sustainable attributes of the project.

Since the container has a very unique shape,

the overall design effect tends to be a combination of industrialization and minimalism.

The ceiling of the middle building is high,

and the glass screen sees through the whole metal staircase,

and you can see the coffee bean farm in front.

The coffee research and development room is set in the container behind the stairs,

a place where coffee can be tasted, sorted and controlled.

From this center, the functional areas at both ends of the building can be easily reached.

On one side, there are offices for employees,

which are spacious and bright; on the other side,

 there are showrooms and tasting rooms for visitors, which are warm and rustic.

To highlight the sustainable design concept, some furniture is made from old coffee tree trunks,

such as the round coffee table in the tasting room.

Pictures courtesy of  Sartori