Red Bull Station
Restored nineteen twenties power substation whose original water cooling system now feeds a rooftop fountain.
This guide to Red Bull Station in São Paulo opens with the architects of Triptyque standing inside a gutted, graffiti-covered transformer substation in 2013, asking why they should bring a dead machine's plumbing back to life when nobody had asked them to. Built in 1926 by the Canadian-backed power company Light to help run the city's electric streetcars, the station hummed for decades before going quiet in 2004 and sitting protected but rotting for nine years. City hall had already listed its facade as heritage back in 2000, paperwork that did nothing to stop the pigeons and vandals. Look up at the building's steel details before stepping inside.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.