Ingrid Sa | Experiential Design, Events & Brand Experiences (Copy)

  • 10+years designing spaces
  • 16+projects a year, US$ 4M portfolio
  • 60%win rate in competitive bids
  • 35,000+festival visitors a day

Ingrid Sa | Cornell MBA, Class of 2027Architect by training, producer by practice. I take brand experiences from first sketch to opening day, and manage everything in between.

Creative Leadership

Good design starts from the business question. Ambiguity is where design begins.

  1. Events and venues

    From festival grounds for 35,000 a day to a bank's year-end event.

    LED tunnel entrance at the Caixa year-end event

  2. Brand activations

    Pop-ups and booths people want to step into.

    Runners passing the black adidas Runspot container on the Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro

  3. Custom design

    Designed, detailed and fabricated, from retail kiosks to a parametric bench.

    Parametric wood bench with wave-shaped slats

Selected work

Five projects for Caixa, adidas and CASACOR.

Lit orange timeline ribbon curving into the LED tunnel at the Caixa year-end event

Year-end results event

Caixa · Brasília

Caixa Econômica Federal, Brasília. 2024 and 2025 editions, both built.

The yearly results event of Latin America's largest federal bank, turned from a presentation into spaces people walk through: a history timeline, data columns, LED tunnels, interactive walls and a main plenary.

My project won the competitive bid two years in a row, for the 2024 and 2025 editions.

My part: concept, immersive design and 3D renderings for both editions. In 2024 I also managed suppliers, schedule and the on-site team through opening night.

Backlit columns displaying Caixa results
2024
Interactive results wall with a map of Brazil
2024
LED tunnel entrance
2024
Crowd in the immersive hall with neon numbers
2025
Runners with a flag passing the black adidas Runspot container under the trees

adidas Runspot

Lagoa · Rio de Janeiro

adidas, Parque das Figueiras, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Rio de Janeiro. Permanent space, built.

A permanent running hub for adidas on the Lagoa, built inside a shipping container and delivered as a legacy of the Rio Marathon. I authored the project from concept and site plan to 3D modeling and renderings.

Press: O Globo and Veja Rio.

My part: concept, site plan, 3D modeling and renderings, plus project management. I managed suppliers, schedule and the build team through delivery.

Container along the park track with runners
On the track
Running crew at the entrance
Running crew
Built Caixa booth: a tilted blue A-frame with an orange canopy, visitors talking in front

Mayors Summit booths

Caixa · Brasília

Caixa Econômica Federal at the national mayors summit, Brasília. Two booth models, both built.

Meeting spaces for Caixa at a national gathering of Brazilian mayors. The first model is a tilted A-frame in the bank's blue and orange that opens into a lounge for conversations with public officials. The second is a rounded blue portal with a coffee bar, a quiz screen and a wall of X-shaped cutouts.

My part: concept, space design and 3D renderings, plus project management. I managed fabrication, suppliers and schedule through on-site installation.

Caixa booth full of visitors during the summit
During the summit
Render of the A-frame booth
Render
A-frame structure in plywood at the workshop
In the workshop
Second model: rounded blue portal with lit CAIXA sign and coffee bar
Second model
Render of the Espaço da Sorte booth at night: a lit wooden arch, blue curtains and glass game booths
Render

Cultural festival

Loterias Caixa · São João, Campina Grande

Loterias Caixa at the São João festival, Campina Grande.

A lottery activation for one of Brazil's largest June festivals. The booth borrows the festival's own language: a stage with blue curtains, a lit wooden arch, picket fences and flag garlands. Inside, visitors play in glass cash-grab booths with flying lottery balls, a target game and touchscreen games.

My part: concept, space design, visitor experience and 3D renderings, plus project management of suppliers, schedule and the on-site team.

Glass cash-grab booths with flying lottery balls
Cash-grab booths
Main wall with puppet characters and interactive screens
Main wall
Facade lighting study, warm Facade lighting study, cyan Facade lighting study, pink Facade lighting study, purple Facade lighting study, green
Lighting studies for the facade
The wave-shaped wood bench in the CASACOR lounge, among plants and lamps

Parametric wood bench

CASACOR Brasília 2022

CASACOR Brasília 2022, Brazil's leading architecture and interiors show. Built in my own shop.

A 4-meter bench whose slats rise and fall like a wave. I designed it parametrically, then cut, sanded and assembled every slat at Canoa Design, my fabrication company, before installing it on site. Selected to exhibit among 71 architects.

My part: computational design, plus managing my shop team through fabrication, schedule and installation.

Shop team dry-fitting the slats
Dry fit in the shop
Close-up of the curved slats
Detail
The full bench, seen from the side
On site
Slats for the CASACOR bench, cut, sanded and assembled at Canoa Design.

More for Caixa

Booths, pop-ups and proposals from my time at Agência EA.

Earlier work from my studio years in Brasília, including festivals, fairs and retail interiors, is on Behance.

Open Behance

You

Every space I design starts from the visitor: how they walk in, what they get to touch and play with, and what they take home when they leave.

From Brasília to Ithaca.Architect and project manager

I grew up in Brasília, a city designed from a single drawing, and studied architecture there. My first jobs were festival grounds that were built and taken down every season, where I learned to think about crowds, flow and the moment someone walks in. I ran my own architecture studio and my own fabrication shop, so I know what happens between the render and the opening. At Agência EA I designed for Caixa and adidas. Now at Cornell Johnson I'm learning the business side, so the experiences I design start from the brand's real question.

Clients include adidas, Caixa Econômica Federal, Beefeater, Stella Artois and Magnólia Papelaria.

The shop team dry-fitting the slats of the CASACOR bench
Canoa Design, Brasília

What I bring

  • Concept and spatial design
  • 3D modeling and rendering
  • Technical drawings for fabrication
  • Project and event management, from schedule to opening day
  • Visitor flow for crowds of thousands
  • English, Portuguese and Spanish

Let's build the next one.

Email me LinkedIn

Available for full-time roles starting 2027.