The two project presented to Reserva Real have the Brazilian modern architecture tradition as a starting point, seeking to explore the qualities that distinguished it and gave it international recognition. A few examples are the harmonic relationship between natural landscape and climate, the interaction between interior and exterior, the clarity in the conception of the construction, the honesty in the use of materials and the reinterpretation of local elements.
Anchored in the modern tradition, these two houses propose the investigation of spatial organizations that foment the integration between interior and exterior and allow looser appropriations by the residents.
Each of them has its own particularities and the designs sought to recognize the site’s topographic conditions and take advantage of the rising slope to unravel views to the beautiful local landscape.
The use of terraces and roofs as leisure spaces intends to recover the portion of the terrain that was subtracted by the construction itself.
The roof was chosen for the leisure spaces because of the generous insolation and the unhindered view.
This house takes advantage of the ascending topography of the terrain and arranges the spaces in a sequence of levels. The circulations and the hydro-sanitary nuclei are concentrated on the sides in order to liberate the center and allow the spaces to be occupied in a looser manner. These two strategies allow the landscape to be admired from any given point of the house.
The program of the house is organized in two ways. Firstly, a distinction was made between the service spaces, which are connected to the ground, and the living areas, which hover over the ground. Secondly, the bedrooms were distributed at the extremities of the house, so as to benefit from the view and better ventilation and natural lighting conditions.
The social and meeting areas were located in the central portion of the dwelling, opening both to the gardens and to the interior. The circulations between the rooms are distributed along the limits of the volume and privilege the ramps to the interior vertical paths, a condition favored by the articulation of the slabs in split levels. The paths are enhanced by the resident’s varying positions, alternating the views to the interior as well as to the landscape.
With regards to the plasticity, the choice was made for a volume closed along the side limits and more open towards the front and the back of the site, conciliating privacy and physical and visual openness.