Intelligent Architecture
Startup - ESPM Business Incubator
Our Story
Redefining Space, Experience, and Decision-Making in the Built Environment
Intelligent Architecture began not simply as a startup, but as a question: what if we could change the way people experience unbuilt spaces? Born in the final year of my undergraduate studies, co-founded with my colleague Carlos, this venture quickly evolved from a graduation project into a market-tested, award-winning platform — one that has already begun transforming the real estate and construction industries from the inside out.
We launched the idea at the XII Entrepreneurship Fair at ESPM, where it received first place honors and immediate acceptance into the university’s selective business incubator. But more than recognition, we gained validation: from users, from the market, and from ourselves — that we were solving a problem both urgent and systemic.
At its core, Intelligent Architecture (ArqInt) was created to address a long-standing inefficiency in real estate: the massive financial and environmental cost of building, securing, and demolishing physical showrooms — structures built solely to sell ideas, only to be discarded once the sale is done. These spaces serve a temporary function, at high expense, and with minimal emotional resonance for buyers.
We saw another way. By developing a virtual architecture platform that blends immersive technologies, behavioral simulation, and artificial intelligence, we replaced these physical spaces with interactive, navigable, emotionally powerful digital environments. Clients can now explore, walk through, and engage with architectural projects still in production — in real time, from anywhere in the world, and without the limitations of concrete or geography.
What we’re offering is not just virtualization — it’s transformation. ArqInt shifts the real estate experience from one of speculation to one of sensation. We don’t ask buyers to imagine. We give them the tools to feel what a space will become — its light, its rhythm, its sound, its atmosphere. We turn passive observation into active understanding, accelerating trust and improving decision-making across the board.
At the same time, we leverage artificial intelligence to refine that experience further. By capturing user behavior, preferences, and navigation patterns within our environments, we generate meaningful data that feeds back into design and sales strategy. Each walkthrough becomes a source of insight. Each interaction teaches us more about what users value, how they decide, and what drives emotional connection to space.
Our goal is not only to simplify the selling process — it is to redefine the mindset of an entire industry. We believe immersive architecture can be more sustainable, more intelligent, and more human. It can eliminate waste, reduce cost, and open up new pathways for storytelling, accessibility, and decision clarity.
This isn’t the future of architecture. This is already happening.
Intelligent Architecture represents a philosophy as much as a platform — that design should be felt, not just seen. That decisions should be based on experience, not speculation. And that technology, when used with empathy, can transform how we shape the spaces that shape us.
This venture showed me the power of combining systems thinking, immersive design, and human behavior into a single product. It also revealed what I want to build next — not just tools that simulate reality, but technologies that elevate how we live, decide, and imagine what’s possible.
Events
ConstruTech
Civil Construction and Technology Event
Introducing the Future of Real Estate: Where Vision Meets Immersion
In March 2019, Intelligent Architecture (ArqInt) was invited to present at ConstruTech, Brazil’s premier event for innovation in construction and technology. More than an exhibition, it became a defining moment in our journey — a space where we demonstrated not only our product, but our philosophy: that architecture should be experienced, not imagined.
The centerpiece of our presentation was the unveiling of our Concept Apartment, a groundbreaking prototype that reimagined how architectural projects are presented, understood, and sold. Built entirely in virtual reality, this model allowed visitors — from investors and architects to engineers and developers — to explore a fully immersive residential unit using advanced HTC Vive headsets.
But this was more than a technical showcase. It was an invitation to rethink how we engage with space.
As participants stepped into the virtual environment, they weren’t observing a simulation — they were walking through the future. From elegant material finishes to dynamic lighting conditions and spatial flow, every element of the apartment was rendered in real time. Visitors could navigate the layout intuitively, assess design features with emotional clarity, and experience the space as if it had already been built.
“This is the first time I’ve truly felt a space before it was built,” said one architect after removing the headset — a phrase we heard echoed, again and again.
Over the course of the event, more than 1,000 immersive walkthroughs were completed — each one delivering not just a demonstration, but a dialogue. We were honored to be recognized as one of the most innovative exhibitors at the summit — not simply for the technology itself, but for our vision: to make immersive architectural storytelling the new norm in real estate.
The Concept Apartment did more than attract attention — it signaled a shift. It demonstrated that buyers, developers, and designers are ready for a deeper, more intuitive way to engage with architecture. One where decisions are no longer based on blueprints, but on lived, felt experiences. It proved that technology, when used with design sensitivity and narrative intention, can bridge the gap between concept and conviction.
ConstruTech was not just a milestone in our trajectory — it was a preview of what’s next. A reminder that the future of architecture isn’t defined by what we build, but by how we allow people to imagine it. With each headset removed, each reaction captured, we moved one step closer to transforming not just spaces — but the way we decide to inhabit them.
XII ESPM Entrepreneurship Fair
1st place at the ESPM Entrepreneurship Fair
Where a Vision Became a Venture
Winning first place at the XII ESPM Entrepreneurship Fair was more than a moment of recognition — it was the beginning of a movement. It marked the debut of Intelligent Architecture (ArqInt) as a startup, and the transformation of an academic prototype into a platform with real-world potential to reshape how we see, feel, and decide on architectural space.
At the heart of our presentation was a software prototype for environment virtualization in Virtual Reality — a tool that allowed users to navigate and experience unbuilt real estate developments as if they were already standing inside them. Our goal wasn’t just to visualize architecture. It was to make it tangible before it was real, to give people the chance to feel what they were being asked to invest in.
The fair gave us the stage — and the audience gave us validation. Throughout the event, participants explored a prototype apartment using immersive VR headsets. They walked through full-scale environments, experiencing the materials, lighting, and layout in real time. We integrated features like natural light simulation across different hours of the day, interactive transitions between floor plan variations, and responsive soundscapes that mimicked the acoustic behavior of each room.
“I’ve never wanted to buy a space just by walking through it in VR — until now,” said one attendee, headset still on, clearly moved by the realism. That moment stayed with me. Because it was no longer about technology. It was about trust.
Over the course of the fair, the booth became more than a demo — it became a destination. Professors stayed long after their scheduled rounds. Investors returned multiple times. Classmates brought colleagues from other faculties. There was a sense that we weren’t just showing something new — we were inviting people into it.
When our project was voted the most innovative and impactful of the event, it wasn’t just a validation of the software — it was a signal that we had unlocked something that resonated across disciplines. That spatial storytelling, when made immersive, could influence behavior, inspire decision-making, and challenge outdated methods of communication in architecture and construction.
The win also secured us a place in the ESPM Business Incubator, where ArqInt would officially begin its entrepreneurial journey. But beyond the title, what we gained was conviction — the knowledge that what we had built wasn’t just impressive, but necessary.
The XII ESPM Entrepreneurship Fair was more than a milestone. It was a revelation. It taught me that the future of design doesn’t live in drawings — it lives in emotion, memory, and presence. It launched a company, yes — but more than that, it launched a belief:
That architecture can speak before it is built. And that innovation begins the moment we dare to tell its story differently.
2019 Empreenda Santander
50 Selected Projects - Brasil Universitário Empreendedor
Where Vision Became Voice — and Voice Became Responsibility
There was a moment — just before the pitch began — when I looked out at the room and realized we weren’t simply presenting software. We were presenting a way to change how people trust architecture. Behind me stood lines of code and nights without sleep. In front of me sat professors, investors, and decision-makers. In that silence before I spoke, I felt it — this was no longer a prototype. It was a responsibility.
Out of over 3,000 ventures from across Brazil, Intelligent Architecture had been selected as one of the Top 50 university startups in the country, honored at the Empreenda Santander 2019 Challenge — a national initiative celebrating the most transformative ideas born within academic ecosystems.
Our project, rooted in a desire to close the emotional gap between clients and the spaces they’re invited to inhabit, presented a new framework we call Immersive Decision Architecture™. Through virtual environments that simulate light, material, and spatial experience, we built a tool that replaces speculation with felt clarity, enabling more confident, sustainable, and human-centered real estate decisions — before a single brick is laid.
Throughout the competition, attendees moved through our virtual spaces — not viewing them, but inhabiting them. As they explored design options in real time, they weren’t just testing features — they were forming connection. One investor paused mid-walkthrough and said, “It feels like the space is already mine.” That moment told me we weren’t selling technology. We were restoring agency.
I still remember the adrenaline in my chest — not from fear, but from conviction. We weren’t there to impress. We were there to offer a new language for architecture — one based on trust, empathy, and interaction.
What began as a classroom-born startup soon crossed national borders. After careful review of each project’s innovation potential and societal relevance, Santander Universidades Brasil selected Intelligent Architecture to represent the country in the Santander X Global Award — a showcase of the most visionary university startups from across the globe.
Representing Brazil on that stage wasn’t just an honor — it was a declaration. That innovation doesn’t only rise from Silicon Valley. It can rise from São Paulo. From a dorm room. From the hands of students who believe that code is a form of compassion, and that design can begin with dignity.
I often say that Brazil is a land of rhythm and resilience — and both are necessary to build something that lasts. At Intelligent Architecture, we carry that rhythm in our interfaces and that resilience in our mission. We believe that immersive tools shouldn’t just help people see — they should help people decide, believe, and belong.
We imagine a future where 10,000 real estate decisions are made with deeper clarity, less waste, and more emotional truth. Where design is not just shown, but felt. And where clients, for the first time, say: “Yes — this space understands me.”
Empreenda Santander was more than a competition. It was an inflection point. It taught me that innovation is not measured in features, but in impact that moves people. That the future of architecture begins when we stop drawing at people — and start building with them.
In that moment, I didn’t just pitch a product.
I spoke a belief:
That architecture can speak before it’s built — and when it does, the world listens.
Business Intelligence in Action –
Strategy as Experience
Transforming Methodology into Meaningful Market Movement
In a keynote session hosted by the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), Intelligent Architecture was invited to present its strategic foundation — not merely as a business model but as a living system of value creation. Originally conceived as a presentation on the Business Model Canvas, the session quickly evolved into a full-scale business intelligence dialogue, connecting entrepreneurial theory with real-world execution.
Rather than treating the Canvas as a static diagram, we used it as a storytelling engine — one that helped participants understand how strategic clarity, customer empathy, and technical innovation intersect to build companies that last. Each block became a case in itself: not just what we do, but why it matters, how we learned it, and where it leads next.
We began with Customer Segments, highlighting how Intelligent Architecture serves a spectrum of stakeholders — from developers seeking immersive pre-sales tools, to end-users craving agency in architectural decision-making, to institutions rethinking how spaces are imagined. The segmentation wasn't abstract — it was lived, measured, tested.
Our Value Proposition was reframed not as a statement, but as an experience: Immersive Decision Architecture™ — a methodology that merges emotion, logic, and simulation to help people trust the spaces they choose. We showed how this concept reduces sales cycles, builds brand credibility, and transforms uncertainty into clarity.
From there, we moved into Customer Relationships, where we emphasized the importance of personalization, co-creation, and post-experience analytics — proving that architecture is not just sold, it’s remembered. We explored our Revenue Models, not just in terms of income streams, but as reflections of a business built to scale ethically and intelligently.
We examined Key Resources — from the emotional intelligence embedded in our UX strategy to the technical infrastructure powering our simulations. Each component was aligned with a core belief: that strategy should be as dynamic and human as the products it supports.
What made the lecture stand out wasn’t just its content, but its tone. It wasn’t a presentation. It was a conversation about architecture, entrepreneurship, and the future of decision-making. It connected with students of advertising and communication not through jargon, but through vision. We spoke not just as founders, but as system designers, translating complex frameworks into actionable, purpose-driven practice.
In the end, the session became more than a walkthrough of business mechanics — it became a masterclass in how ideas become models, models become companies, and companies become movements.
At Arquitetura Inteligente, we believe that the way you build is part of what you’re building. That even your business model should carry your values, your empathy, and your story. The lecture at ESPM was our opportunity to share that belief — and to remind future creators that entrepreneurship isn’t just about the product. It’s about the pattern beneath it.
Projects
Embryonic Projects
Environment Virtualization
Final Project
Virtual Reality
Virtual Tour Proof of Concept
House Project
Virtual Home Proof of Concept