Compact Courtyard House | MEcasa 45

The privileged view of nature was the core starting point for this project on the mountainous region of Nova Lima, State of Minas Gerais/Brazil. An adventurer couple chose us to create this special project in such an exclusive area. At first, the site’s high declivity seemed to be a big challenge, but it was also what inspired us to come up with the implantation’s solution. Exploring its natural landscape and the Elephant’s Hill view, it was possible to set the social floor at the height limit, above the trees. The street facade turned out to be the side elevation and the main facade now faces towards the side boundary. Due to the high declivity of the area, we were able to create a 3 level house. On the ground floor: garage, laundry, and storage. On the first floor, the office was fully integrated with the living room and a guests’ ensuite. Finally, on the second floor, there’s the hosts’ ensuite, with the most privileged view of the landscape. A slight angulation to the east gave us the opportunity to have both the ensuite and the barbecue area to take advantage of the morning sun and the region’s predominant ventilation. At the same time, it helped to protect the ground floor from the sunset light using a concrete wall that blocks the sunlight inside the house. With the major orientation E-W, the house opens to the northern landscape. Extensive eaves on the north view’s perimeter protect the openings of the summer sun, at the same time as the glasses receive the necessary natural heat to naturally warm the inside during the winter.
We requested that two trees were precisely placed by the topographer in the middle of the elevated deck that connects the house to the suspended heated pool. These also work as a natural filter to the sun’s radiation, minimizing the sun’s entry in the living room and the kitchen. The 25m pool, a client wish, is a fundamental part of the volumetric composition of the house. Sustained by two concrete columns, they elevate the pool 6m above the natural floor level, providing to whom’s inside the pool a view of the treetops and the imponent Elephant’s Hill. With the capacity to generate about 1400kW of energy per month through photovoltaic panels, the house is self-sufficiency on energy, warming the pool water and neutralizing the energy consumption from equipment and artificial lightning.
Columns and ribbed slab represent the constructive system. The use of apparent concrete in the house’s wall, swimming pool, and slabs bring the timelessness wanted to the project.

CASA LV1 (casa nanchi 1 y 2)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE CONSTRUCTION
The Casa LV1 (casa nanchi 1 and 2), is a multi-familiar conformed by two houses constructed in the same land, the main material used for its construction was white striated concrete.
DESCRIPTIVE MEMORY
The Casa LV1 (casa nanchi 1 and 2) is a complex of two houses designed for a family an elderly couple, their young daughter and their granddaughter. Each house has the necessary privacy for each development, with the interrelationship and coexistence of the family; they are located in an irregular diamond-shaped land of approximately 250m2, a gradient over 10% with a view to the southeast.
The Casa nanchi 1, on its main floor has: living room, dinning room, kitchen, bathroom, main bedroom with closet and its own bathroom, this floor is directly connected with the service area; the lower floor has a hall, two bedrooms with closet and its own bathroom; the upper floor has a roofed recreation room and a garden terrace. All the floors are connected by a stair, and has a parking lot. The total constructed surface is of 160 m2.
The Casa nanchi 2 has on its main floor: living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and service area; on the upper floor it has: main bedroom with closet and its own bathroom, an additional bedroom with closet, a little play room and a bathroom; on the lower floor, where the entrance is, has: two parking lots and an exterior stair which is connected to the other floors. The total constructed surface of the house is 145 m2 excluding parking lots.
Both houses share main entrance, service yard, green spaces and services.
The houses are named after the nanchi tree (byrosonimacrassifolia) that is located in that land; it was respected and the project was adapted around it, to make it a natural decoration for the dinning room of the Casa nanchi 1. This house was designed for an elderly couple and it has a terrace in the upper floor, which is a recreational and relaxing space with a view of the surroundings to enjoy with the company of family, friends and guests. It has a double-height space which allows the development of the tree.
The design of the Casa nanchi 2, which was designed for the daughter and granddaughter of the family, is inspired in the Brno chair, designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van ser Rohe, which not only allows a large volume, but also an efficient and free structural principle because with this solution is obtained an overhang of 4.85 m with a support of 2.85 m, generating a space without any support under the construction.
The concept of the houses is derogates no only from the connection (interior-familiar, exterior-landscape), but also from the visual freedom that people perceive before entering in the house and also in the interior of them. This is fulfilled by the volumetric integration that defined the spaces of each house, both prisms have specific substractions that allow a formal integration of the two elements; in the Casa nanchi 1 the terrace is subtracted and in the Casa nanchi 2 the parking area is subtracted, transforming both elements without losing its integrity.
The connection of both houses is so important that is not only achieved materially with the union of the two architectonic objects from the common entrance, connotating the link of the family, but also with the landscape, through the transparency in the facade of the two houses, which creates a visual freedom for the inhabitants. This gives a greater illumination of the spaces, producing a feeling of spaciousness and allows the air circulation due to the large windows that are handled by the users.
The material, white striated exposed concrete and stone dust of the region, recalls the honesty of the materials, this simplicity benefits the environment, because it doesn’t use coatings in walls, fooors or roofs, contributing the less possible to the pollution. The exposed finishes means less production, transportation and utilization of pollutant materials. As said before, the free circulation of air allows a constant cleaning of the interior air which allows a natural regulation of the temperature, achieving termic comfort for the users and reducing the use of electronic devices that cools artificially the place. Besides, the same large windows avoid the unnecessary use of artificial illumination during the day allowing the entrance of sunlight in the morning.