Copan was designed by late modernist master Oscar Niemeyer. The building’s serpentine facade and narrow brises soleil (permanent sunshades) have become a symbol of the city. You can visit its snaking, sloping ground-floor shopping arcade and hip restaurants, but the upper floors are made up of private apartments and thus off-limits.
Note that the leftist architect designed the building to bring together all classes by including sprawling apartments for the rich as well as tiny studios for the working poor – a real rarity in class-conscious São Paulo.
