Einstein opens R$700 million teaching and research center

The Sociedade Israelita Albert Einstein will inaugurate in mid-August its new Center for Teaching and Research, a building in the south of São Paulo built with the aim of being an oasis within the city.

Built during the Covid pandemic at a cost of R$ 700 million, the building draws attention for its international designer architecture, with an internal forest formed by native plants of the Atlantic Forest, a roof composed of 1,854 glass plates and laboratories with unprecedented transparent walls. .

The site, which is already in partial operation, houses undergraduate courses in medicine (monthly fee of R$9,310), nursing (R$2,250) and, as of 2023, administration of health organizations (R$4,380).

Postgraduate courses distributed among the 21 classrooms (which can become 40) are also located in the new building.

“The construction of this building is yet another realization of a dream of our founders, as they envisioned that Einstein would have its faculty of medicine”, says Sidney Klajner, president of Einstein.

The college has existed since 2016; what it lacked was its own headquarters, which will allow Einstein to further expand its teaching and research fronts in the field of health.

“Our goal is to have the largest number of degrees to train the best health professional that we can have here in our country”, says Klajner.

In all, the Einstein teaching area has about 44,000 undergraduate and graduate students, among other courses – a growth of more than 30% compared to the pre-pandemic period. About a third of students receive scholarships from the institution itself.

This contingent is dispersed in nine units, the last of which is precisely the new building. Called Campus Cecília and Abram Szajman, in honor of those who donated the land for the construction, it is located in front of the Einstein hospital unit in Morumbi, with which it is connected by a walkway.

It is estimated that more than 6,000 people will visit the site every day, including students, teachers, collaborators and, of course, researchers.

It is because of the research, by the way, that the new building has not yet been officially opened. It takes more time to move the laboratories, which until then were located on one floor of the hospital. Only 1 of the more than 700 projects, for example, has 100,000 samples to be transported at controlled temperature.

In the new environment, scientists will find several types of state-of-the-art laboratories, with 256 pieces of equipment for shared use, subject to appointments.

The transparent walls allow the scientists’ work to be accompanied by students and visitors, as if they were in a restaurant with the kitchen open to customers.

“The building was designed down to the smallest detail so that researchers can live with students and have this exchange of knowledge, this integration”, says Junia Gontijo, executive director of Heritage, Engineering and Infrastructure at Einstein.

Benches spread across the five teaching and research floors reinforce this objective. Located on staggered terraces that are also open to circulation and with a view of the forest on the ground floor, they function as study and social areas.

“It’s a very happy project. It brings together the integration of environments, people, the issue of sustainability, this contact with nature, to bring that really deep feeling of well-being”, says Gontijo.

Safdie Architects took care of the project. “We went looking for an architect who was world-renowned and could transmit all the Jewish precepts that permeate Einstein’s activity”, says Klajner, the institution’s president.

Founded by Israeli-American architect Moshe Safdie, the firm has signed works on five continents, but until now had no installations in Brazil. Highlights in its portfolio include Singapore airport, the Washington Institute of Peace (USA) and the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

“I have an extended family that emigrated to Brazil in the 1950s and I have visited them on many occasions. The opportunity to contribute to the São Paulo community was of special significance,” says Safdie.

“Given the location, with one side facing the residential neighborhood and the other facing the hospital and the hustle and bustle of a busy urban artery, we decided to create a building around a traditional courtyard, an oasis in the city,” he says.

Spaces such as laboratories, classrooms and an auditorium surround the atrium where the forest is located. At the top, 35 meters from level 1, stands the skylight measuring 88 meters by 49 meters, built in three domes.

Covered by film, the skylight allows natural light to enter the building with varying intensity: it is weaker where there is the movement of people, to ensure the comfort of those who are there. “There’s also an idea of ​​recreating the Greek atmosphere of gathering an audience under the shade of a tree,” says Safdie.

In addition to helping to control the temperature, which is essential for the survival of the plants, the double-layer glass and membrane system ensures acoustic comfort in the place, as opposed to the agitation outside.

Einstein hopes that the new building will become another postcard of the capital of São Paulo. “It was created to be an icon, to be a landmark in the city, to be visited”, says director Junia Gontijo