Concrete is not purely a structural element. As we demonstrated in a recent article about kitchen projects using concrete countertops, the material is gaining significant traction in the world of residential furnishings and fixtures. To further exemplify this, we have curated a list of several projects that use concrete benches to create beautiful moments inside and outside the home.
Gone are the days when the kitchen was relegated to a service area. Following the traditional system of bourgeois residential tripartition (dividing the house into social, intimate, and service areas), the kitchen was originally designed as an independent and closed space. Today, more and more, projects seek to integrate and relate it to other rooms in the house, facilitating different interactions among its residents. Due to this transformation, the appearance of the kitchen also changed, and traditional ceramic and stone cladding gave way to new materials.
The project consists in the construction of a weekend house in the Odeceixe village, located in the Algarve Atlantic Coast. The project strategy was to organize a program for a three-story weekend house, with 28m² each floor. The main element of the house are the stairs, entirely built in wood structural panel (27mm) with a nuclear position in the house.
The house is sited in a typical peripheral region lot, in Guimarães city, characterized by a surrounding high density residential area. The project was developed according to the immediate needs regarding the context – privacy and the natural topography of the site.
Of the varying aspects of architectural and interior design, lighting is one element that can visually enhance or destroy a space. This influence stems from the wide range of artificial lighting designed for the most widely differing tasks, environments, and purposes, including internal and even external spaces such as facades and landscape projects. Think of two environments with the same dimensions and layout. Suppose that in the first, only one point of light was applied – a general, unspecified point of light in this case – while in the second a light project was performed considering the use of space and valuing certain aspects of the architectural design. Undoubtedly, the second option is a more pleasant space. In the same way, poor lighting design can ruin an environment. But how is it possible to achieve these different results?
Located in a residential condominium of the metropolitan region of Curitiba, Brazil, the Countyard House of approximately 250 square meters was born of the premise of creating an integrated and legible house. The terrain at the top of a hill allowed us to explore the view even in a condominium where the houses are relatively close, and the size of the site amplitude set the entire program on a single floor.
A house for books. This challenge started with a premise from the client: space for many books. Immediately, our imaginary guided us to the many classical renaissance libraries, with sliding stairs that reach the book mountain. That was the motto of the intervention: a high space capable of generate the composition and hierarchize interior spaces.
Located in Jardim Paulistano, a traditional neighborhood in São Paulo, the site designated to host a young family has a perimeter of 10 meters width and 30 meters long, as usual in this area. According to the local urban legislation, the building should respect a 5 meter strip free of edification in front of the site, as well as a 3 meters strip free in the back, a 3 meters strip free at least along one of the sides and a 1,50 meters strip free in both sides from the second floor.
The intention of the project was to explore a link between Miami’s mid-century modern architecture with the tradition of the Brazilian modern architecture. In the same creative way that the European modern architecture was interpreted in North America, there was an interpretation and recreation of this movement in South America. This connection is reinforced by Miami’s climatic and geographic characteristics – a sunny place and close to the tropical area. We established these bonds through the choice of pure geometric shapes, specially the cylinder and the circle, that are recurrent in both local and Brazilian modern architecture history, and also through the use of a light color palette, close to the white, another feature common to both traditions. Some important initial references were the Miami Beach Post Office, the work pieces from the Brazilian sculptor Sergio Camargo, the luminosity of American pools from David Hockney or even contemporaneous projects, sensitive to these recurrences, such as the Faena District from OMA, recently inaugurated in the city.
Sustainability in architecture is an issue that may bring to light too general proposals and there are a lot of possibilities concerning the application of their concepts in design process. Sustainable strategies are essential so that the project development reconcile the economic and ecologic pillars and, above all, consider the well-being impact for those who are going to use the built space. Thinking about this, we have gathered four projects of different typologies that applied innovative methods in the conception of the buildings that stand out for their sustainable practices. Read on for the projects:
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