leopold banchini envisions floating garden volume for neojiba rehearsal hall in brazil

neojiba rehearsal hall huddles among brazil’s lush forest

Leopold Banchini envisions Neojiba’s new rehearsal hall as a heavy concrete form resting lightly within Brazil‘s tropical landscape of Salvador de Bahia. Standing slightly elevated on slender supports, the structure seems to float just above the forest floor, allowing air and plant life to pass beneath. Its massive exterior walls hold a quiet presence among the trees, absorbing the atmosphere of the park without trying to dominate it.

The singular volume is shaped with acoustic precision. Its smooth, nearly windowless concrete surfaces suggest an inward focus, but glimpses of the surroundings are carefully framed at ground level. From within, every musician can peer out toward the greenery, connecting their practice with the living environment outside. The architecture holds the sound within while letting the visual and climatic qualities of the forest remain part of the experience.

leopold Banchini plans floating volume over mirrored pond

Swiss architect Leopold Banchini shapes the Neojiba Rehearsal Hall to include a garden planted across its open rooftop. Trees, shrubs, and tropical vegetation take root above the solid concrete form, blurring the boundary between the architecture and its environment. From a distance, the roof appears as an extension of the forest itself, reinforcing the building’s role not as a monument but as part of a larger ecological system.

The architecture is integrated into a planted garden that includes a shallow pond. This body of water mirrors the building’s surfaces and softens the approach to its entrance. The pond and surrounding plantings create a threshold that signals arrival without the need for conventional signage or pathways. It becomes a place of pause and reflection, gently separating the rehearsal space from the activity of the park beyond.

project info:

name: Neojiba Rehearsal Hall

architect: Leopold Banchini | @leopoldbanchini

location: Parque do Queimado, Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

visualizations: © Analog1 | @analog1.eu