-
Architects: Vapor arquitetura
- Area: 430 m²
- Year: 2020
Text description provided by the architects. The project consists of transforming a 450 m² residence located in the Alto de Pinheiros neighborhood in São Paulo into five autonomous residential units, with areas ranging from 60 to 100 m² each. The goal is to ensure that the new units maintain the character of a home, always with outdoor areas that expand and integrate the internal spaces.
The proposal is to create a residential village with common areas that include circulation spaces, gardens, and garages for cars and bicycles, as well as private gardens and terraces for all units. The transformation redefines the original house, adapting it to new demands without significantly altering its built area, reflecting a current city demand for revising its uses and densities without necessarily resorting to the construction of new buildings.
The project concept is to work with the pre-existence, preserving and updating the aesthetics of the original building. The masonry walls, glass bricks, and clay tile roof of the previous residence are maintained in dialogue with the new interventions.
To preserve the physical characteristics of the existing main building, all the infrastructure support for the complex has been concentrated in a newly constructed block located at the back of the lot. This block houses one of the residential units and also a technical slab to meet the operational needs of the village. The use of similar materials between the new block and the existing one reinforces the continuity of the architectural language, resulting in a set composed of units with the same aesthetic and functional quality, without hierarchy among them.
For the construction of the new built areas and the structural reinforcements in the existing building, a mixed system using concrete structure with metallic beams was employed, for the closures, traditional masonry, aluminum frames, and external concrete walls between the units. In the internal areas, glass bricks enhance the entry of natural light into the units, in combination with wood panels and closures. The secondary structures, including planters, external closures, and lightweight roofs, are made with a metallic structure.
