floating box

Metro Arquitetos Associados + Paulo Mendes da Rocha have designed a new Museum of Modern Art in Santos, Brazil. The museum is visually shocking as the gigantic volume seems to be hovering over an open gathering space. Metal trusses measuring 60m x 20m support the two all-metal walls of the project. The facade is made with pre-cast slabs of concrete while the interior is plastered. The museums has 2 exhibit halls of 1,135 m² and 1,200 m², a café, ticket office, gift shop, lounge and archive. The Architects have integrated this space  into the existing Benedito Calixto Art gallery by way of the suspended steel beams of the new museum.

lego bricks

Marcio Kogan's nursery project pecially directed for children aged from 0 to 3 years. The Architects have made a priority to conceive of an abstract non-stereotypical space with a ludic character that would meet the functional demands of the numerous procedures within the nursery. Circulation is achieved through ramps and the use of friendly materials such as a soft floor and operational ergonometry that are fundamental for a safe and comfortable environment for the children. Other than the usual services to accomodate the young ones, the Architects have also added importance to the landscaping to guarantee the safe interaction among the children. Bright colours such as yellow, orange and red were selected to create a stimulating atmosphere.

white brown box

The House 53 volumetry was defined following São Paulo city building laws and the site’s peculiar shape, which is just over 10m in front and 30m in length. Marcio Kogan had to follow the legislation that states, one can only build in the neighborhood up to 2 floors. The Architects conceived the house as a wood and mortar monolithic block with another concrete and glass volume upon it. Due to the ground’s small front, the house 2 edges had to make the most of light’s entrance hence the large windows. Internally, the space comprises of a living room on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor. On the exterior, the when brises (wooden slats) are closed, it´s impossible to distinguish the openings, and all wooden surfaces make up a pure single volume, without bumps. But when it is opened, the house looks like a large folding wood.

brown cube

Corten House is an urban house located near the largest park in the city of São Paulo. The site, long and narrow, with a small external deck and a fireplace on the ground floor, also a rooftop. Marcio Kogan Architects have created the facade of the house with Corten weathering steel to create a dialogue between the rusty texture on the outside and the stone, wood, white mortar and the glass build the space. The front door of the garage is made of vertical wooden strips and opens entirely onto the street. The back façade is composed of a glass curtain that confers transparency to the opaque steel box and a suspended volume which contains movable wooden brises. The interior walls of the lot are made of Stone.

The Architects have made the interior plan for the ground floor simple: ceiling height of 5.2m and four folding doors that completely open out to the deck and external fireplace, meanwhile in the living room, a free wooden volume houses the kitchen and utilities program. Between this volume and the entrance door there is a staircase that leads to the mezzanine. The mezzanine, on the wooden volume, is a singular area for the home-theater. Here there is another staircase thats leads up to the third floor, to the private program of the house, the three bedrooms. The master bedroom, in the back, has a wooden panel of brises to filter the light and can remain completely open. On the rooftop of the house, there is a wooden deck protected by glass guard-rails. This space functions as a solar with a heated pool and a view of the city of São Paulo.

brasilia

A Marcio Kogan  house in Brazil that epitomise the cinematographic atmosphere of space. The entrance of the house and the living-room completely opens to the entire house, creating cross-ventilation and an area of continuum space that is totally free. There is no structural interference in this space. The living room opens to a delicate wooden-floored garden with a reflecting pool and minimum vegetation. On the first floor, the Architects have created a private space and the second floor consists of a low-down social space to enhance the spatial quality.

young and old

Piratininga Arquitetos Associados have designed this apartment for a trader who shares it with his son, and the project was carried out bearing in mind the fact that the residence is for two men, each of them occupying a part of it, in the ends of the floor. The apartment was reconfigured entirely; the son’s sector corresponds to the former utility area and the father’s area occupies the former bedrooms. In the public space, a volume built of concrete panels holds the equipment storage, pantry, library, refrigerators, television sets, restrooms and others. The Architects have respected the original project dating back to 1952, by Architect Abelardo de Souza, one of the icons of the modernist movement in Brazil.

parallel tripod

Ubatuba is one of the most important coastal cities in the state of São Paulo. SPBR Arquitetos have designed a house on a 55m x 16m ground plot, located at the far right end of Tenório’s Beach, borders on the seashore at one side and goes up a 50% slope hill, only reaching street level at 28 meters. The steep hill and its trees are both protected by environmental laws. The Architects were inspired by the site limitations and produced a 3 columns from reinforced concrete to support the house. 4 steel beams lay on the top of them in order to hang the slabs from above and also to avoid the use of support frames during the construction process hence making it faster to be built. The Architects have also made the main access 'upside down' - the terrace on top is at same level of the street. A bridge connects the street to the main entrance of the house, allowing different views of the sea, of the hill and of the trees.

acacia retreat

Gabriel Grinspum + Mariana Simas have designed the 'Pier House for a young couple in São Paulo. The house is divided into two spaces; the first is a whitewash covered solid box meanwhile the other is a metal tile and pre-fabricated wooden structure. The brief required the need for close proximity to the water in order to launch the owners' sailboat as well as preserving the dense vegetation of rainforest surrounding it. The site, Saco do Mamanguá, RJ, is a tropical fjord accessible only by boat thus making this house a salvage to its environment. Much like a sailboat, the Architects have created a poetic symbol of harmony between nature and the human condition with the use of sustainable benefits of technological advance.

ps: Back from May Bank Holiday weekend and as expected, it was awashed with rain. Bloody rain! I'm sick of this weather. Tell me a country in the world where the entire population have to endure the abysmal weather and still carry on with their lives. Only Goddamn England. That's right - Goddamn England. Only in the UK can you truly appreciate the sun with its full glory.