Do Vale House / Gabriel Castro (MOBIO) + Marcos Franchini (BIRI)

Curated by Susanna Moreira

Architects: BIRI, Gabriel Castro MOBIO
Area: 150 m²
Year: 2021
Photographs:Laura Costa
Manufacturers: Allmad, Alox, Olaria do Pedrinho, Roca, Seves Glassblock, TL Estruturas
Electrical Installations: Faver Automação e Projetos, Irineu Castanheira

Text description provided by the architects. The Casa do Vale project started from the demand of a couple to build a new residence on a 360m² terrain located in the Vale do Sol neighborhood in Nova Lima, MG.

The clients' desire was to have a cozy house to spend the nights and the weekends, which had a built area of up to 150m ², three bedrooms being (one of them suite) and an outdoor area for open-air activities, garden, and vegetable garden, shelter for dogs and chickens, plus an ornamental water tank.

Do Vale House / Gabriel Castro (MOBIO) + Marcos Franchini (BIRI) - Exterior Photography, Brick — © Laura Costa

After a long process of composition studies taking into account the program, solar orientation, the lot and surrounding specifics, plus financial issues, it was defined as a project strategy horizontal house composed of two perpendicular axes whose intersection corresponds to the main access and the room that articulates the most private spaces and the services.

The notions of patio and balconies guide the design of the project so that all the rooms are integrated and have access to the external area. The living room integrated into the kitchen sets the central space of the house, with higher ceilings, close to the street facade and open to the main patio, which will be shaded by a pergola with hanging orchids and vases, so that the house is expanded in days of family events or outdoor dining.

The rooms are also integrated into the outdoor area, in smaller courtyards, through the use of sliding doors instead of windows. To shelter the terrace from the bedroom facing the street, a leaking wall was created with pagination of solid bricks interspersed.

The third bedroom will be used initially as an informal office, which can be later closed in a conventional room. Taking advantage of this condition leaving it without partitions and extending the space of common use of the residence, which became more generous with more openings for ventilation and natural lighting.

The building system was defined from slabs of reinforced concrete and vertical elements in massive blocks of ceramic brick, which is allowed by the measures of the openings and is less expensive. Given that the couple also likes natural materials apparent, it was defined that the structural elements would not have any type of coating, apart from the bedrooms where it was decided for painted block masonry.