Arquitetos Associados designed this minimalist single family house located in Natal, Brazil, in 2016. The residence was biasts three levels: On the lower level (half-buried), there are the garage and studios; on the first floor (semi-elevated), the social and living areas; and above (elevated), the intimate areas. Take a look at the complete story below.
From the architects: The design of this house was guided by the initial desire of privacy and the consideration of the site conditions, closed to the outside, but open to a large three-story internal void. The objective was to bring a spatial richness with the varying ceiling heights, large air volumes, and consequently an improved ambient comfort.
The created volume explores to full extent the parameters that regulate construction in the gated community: a minimum 5 meters setback at the front, 4 meters at the back, 2 meters on the sides, and a maximum of 7.5 meters high from 1.25 meter from the level of the first floor. [as long as it is at a maximum height of 1.25m from the natural terrain].
Three floors were created. On the lower level (half-buried), there are the garage and studios; on the first floor (semi-elevated), the social and living areas; and above (elevated), the intimate areas.
In the deliberate search for greater spatial variety and better accommodation of the program to the volume, the multiple levels were drawn with greater diversity instead of just sitting on top of each other. The other levels rise over the void. On the elevated first floor, two slabs extend on the building’s transversal axis, from a lateral façade to the other, connected by a bridge. The slab that sits towards the street shelters the living room and TV/home theater. In the slab at the back, integrated with the backyard, there are the dining room, kitchen, and laundry. On the second floor, the slabs extend on the longitudinal axis from the front all the way to the back, connected by a transversal bridge and sheltering bedrooms and bathrooms.
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The construction will have the excatavation of the terrain and the building of a retaining wall as a first step, creating the space needed for the future occupation. The volume of the house rises over this void, with columns and slabs in reinforced concrete and metallic roofing over an also metal structure. Finally, the walls and the external enclosures in glass and bricks are agregated to this frame, defining the final aspect of the house. Openings are created in the façade through different orientation of the bricks, allowing light and enhancing ventilation in the internal spaces. In the highest part of the house, there are windows by the floor and a band of permanent ventilation that generate the Venturi effect and allow greater thermal comfort.
Photography by Joana França
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