Slender Transparent House in Brazil | FL House

Remember the days when wallpaper was an outdated design feature that demanded to be removed? Today that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, we’re in the middle of a full-fledged wallpaper revival! From geo forms to layered botanicals, current patterns feature thoughtful designs and loads of originality. Minimalist patterns are as popular as […]

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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.

Harimon house is a single family semi-detached house organized around a central patio and along the main staircase axis. The design process examined several semi-detached house typologies against the site characteristics and the needs of the end-users to determine the best house plan. The long and narrow plot informed the location of the stairs against the shared wall and on the opposite side of the house the patio recess was introduced to allow light and air to filter into the basement and define the spatial layout on the other levels. A tree was planted at basement level in the patio so that its foliage would manifest mainly at the ground floor, and act as a visual anchor in the kitchen, dining area and living room that were organized around the glazed patio. The staircase axis defines a view line at ground level, looking to the backyard that includes a lap pool, and at the first floor it defines the main circulation corridor along which the bedrooms are located. Throughout the house, light colours and natural materials create bright spaces that frame colourful and texture rich views of the surrounding area.

Casa Pakaal blends historic charm with contemporary design in the heart of Mérida, Mexico. Revitalized by…