Urban recreation Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details

27/02/22, 20:46
Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
27/02/22, 20:46
Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
TOPICS
Street view. Photo: Nelson Kon
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São Paulo is known as an enormous metropolis of about 20 million inhabitants, a seemingly endless
sea of houses exposed to the persistent noise of the city. Residents seek relief on the coast; to do this,
they must merge into the omnipresent traffic jams. But one couple has decided to act against the habit
of fleeing the city. Rather, by commissioning Angelo Bucci to build a weekend house in the middle of
São Paulo, they have taken the side of infrastructural autonomy.
The narrow lot on which this house stands is located near the business centre on the Avenida Faria
Lima. Despite this atypical urban situation, the architects have brought about a small spatial miracle.
Their decision to develop the structure on the vertical plane and fully exploit the neighbourhood’s
standard height of 6 metres has enabled a real gain in space and an exciting stage for the three most
important elements of the house’s recreational quality: stacked on three levels, the building offers
generous areas for a ground-floor garden, a conservatory on the first upper floor and a rooftop terrace
with swimming pool.
Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo
Text: Virginia Zangs
published 19.10.2014
Pool, Conservatory, Garden: the three main functions of a
weekend house in the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo
have been distributed by architect Angelo Bucci and his
office SPBR over vertically stacked volumes of in-situ
concrete. The spaces in between have become a green idyll
of intimacy and harmony with nature.
Architect: Angelo Bucci / SPBR Architects
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
View to the garden. Photo: Nelson Kon
The exterior view is sheltered, which is typical for the building culture in large Brazilian urban areas.
The volumes of the house seem to float above the concrete wall which delimits the property from the
street. The massive elements, made of exposed concrete and partly clad in wooden planks, are almost
completely closed off. A stairway to one side crosses the threshold between public and private space in
the hidden underground garden, which rises as a riot of tropical green behind the surrounding wall.
Photo: Nelson Kon
The conservatory and pool are found in two separate volumes of exposed concrete, both of which are
visible from the street. The distance between these volumes measures two metres and creates a lightflooded column which directs the view throughout all levels of the house. Supports on the ground floor
hold the concrete volumes, which are twelve metres deep. The suspended load-bearing structure
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
27/02/22, 20:46
Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
under the pool has been created as a living space whose façade, which consists of a fixed pane of bluetinged glass, faces the inner courtyard.
Garden on ground floor. Photo: Nelson Kon
Pool on 2nd floor. Photo: Nelson Kon
This interlocking system of open spaces and roofed-in areas is connected via stairs. The garden is
integrated into the ground floor and offers a private, shady retreat as well as shelter from the sun’s
glare and public view. The functions of the ground floor are not delimited by walls. The modular floor,
which comprises pathways, pedestals, water basins and steps, creates a topographical spatial
landscape for open use.
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
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Courtyard ground floor. Photo: Nelson Kon
Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
Courtyard 2nd floor. Photo: Nelson Kon
The sundeck on the rooftop terrace underscores the holiday home’s situation as a private island in the
public sea of houses. While the full six metres of height allows a panoramic view over the city, it is
impossible for others to see the private platform.
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
Second floor plan: SPBR Architects
Roof terrace on 3rd floor. Photo: Nelson Kon
Angelo Bucci/SPBR Architects have certainly made the most of this narrow lot. Elements which are
allocated a secondary position in ordinary houses determine the form of this building’s typography and
its fundamental living spaces. The resulting quality arises from the interplay of open areas and
expressively hovering structural bodies. The house is directed towards the slender inner courtyard,
which elevates the horizontal openness to a synergetic continuum of space.
Third floor plan: SPBR Architects
Ground floor plan: SPBR Architects
Section: SPBR Architects
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Urban recreation: Weekend house in São Paulo - DETAIL - Magazine of Architecture + Construction Details
Project dataMaterial: in-situ concrete, wood
Site are: 269.5 m²
Usable space: 183.4 m²
Completion: 2013
Structural engineer: Ibsen Puleo Uvo
Landscape architect: Raul Pereira
Team: Nilton Suenaga, Tatiana Ozzetti, Ciro Miguel, Eric Ennser, João Paulo Meirelles de Faria, Juliana
Braga, Fernanda Cavallaro, Victor Próspero
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