Le projet Skip Ad remet la pertinence de la publicité en question, en décidant de réagir et de coller des stickers « Skip Ad » sur des panneaux publicitaires, dans différentes villes, New York, Sao Paulo, et Stockholm. Le projet propose au public de partager cette action en imprimant l’autocollant disponible sur leur site.
This reflective metal-clad box containing a restaurant rises like a periscope above a small shopping complex in São Paulo by French-Brazilian architecture office Triptyque (+ slideshow).
Triptyque was asked to create a building that incorporates three shops, a bar, an art gallery and a restaurant with a VIP room, and decided to locate the latter inside a cantilevered metal box called the Observatory.
“Located in a street where the buildings are next to each other, the Observatory is not a stage in addition, it is a building on a building, the city on the city,” said the architects. “It opens a new dimension of growth straddling the shopping complex and overlooking the Oscar Freire neighbourhood of São Paulo.”
The reflective top-floor structure appears to hover above the rest of the three-storey building and is supported by a series of columns that reach to the ground level.
Stainless steel panels covering the exterior of the Observatory create distorted reflections of the surrounding streetscape, which can be seen up close from the open terrace on the storey below.
At street level, customers enter three shops contained in narrow units arranged in a staggered formation that step back from the pavement of the Rua Oscar Freire.
The restaurant’s main space is housed on the first floor, with the kitchens above and a lift providing access to the VIP room at the top of the building. A ramp leads from the street down to the basement level, which houses parking and services for the building.
Triptyque based the multi-storey arrangement of the complex on the Spatial City theory developed in 1959 by Hungarian-born French architect Yona Friedman, who imagined inhabitable structures raised on piles to free up space below.
“It is an artificial topography composed of megacities above ground responding to the problem of rapid population growth in large urban areas in the world,” said the architects.
The architects also recently transformed a 1920s building in São Paulo into a creative arts space for drinks brand Red Bull, featuring a huge steel awning covering the roof.
Photography is by Leonardo Finotti.
The architects sent us this project description:
The Observatory
The architecture agency Triptyque was commissioned to design a complex in São Paulo with three shops, a restaurant, a bar and an art gallery. The shops should have access to the city while the restaurant had to be housed in the upper floors.
The complex was designed as a binary metal structure: a “ground” level that receives the shops, and a “space” level called “the Observatory” which houses the restaurant where the group of Franco- Brazilian restaurateurs Chez Group has created its new meeting place: Chez Oscar.
Located on a street where the buildings are next to each other, the observatory is not a stage in addition, it is a building on a building, the city on the city. It opens a new dimension of growth spanning the shopping complex and overlooking the Oscar Freire neighbourhood of São Paulo.
Massive and cubic volume, the observatory is balanced on an asymmetric structure which imparts kinetic and operates a disruption between the street level and spatial scale effect. Completely covered with stainless steel, reflections are distorted and blurred over time and tropical storms.
In this design, the architects of the agency Triptych were strongly inspired by the concept of the space city of Yona Friedman created in 1959. It is an artificial topography composed of mega cities aboveground responding to the problem of rapid population growth in large urban areas in the world. It draws a three-dimensional city that multiplies the original surface of the city with elevated planes, and thus created a new map of the territory.
The building The Observatory Oscar Freire grasps architecture as a dynamic form, between materiality and potentiality, open to users interaction as well as environmental conditions. It was inaugurated in October 2013.
Project : Freud/Oscar Freire
Localisation : R. Oscar Freire 1128, 1134, 1138 e 1142, Jardins São Paulo
Start of project (year): 2010
Delivery (year): 2012
Surface: 675 sqm
Built surface: 1400 sqm
Architecture: TRIPTYQUE
Associates: Greg Bousquet, Carolina Bueno, Guillaume Sibaud and Olivier Raffaelli
General coordinator: Luiz Trindade
Project manager : Aline D´Avola
The post Triptyque’s shiny metal restaurant hovers
over São Paulo shopping complex appeared first on Dezeen.
A slender steel awning shades artists from the sun on the rooftop of this creative arts space that French-Brazilian studio Triptyque created for drinks brand Red Bull in a São Paulo warehouse (+ slideshow).
Situated on Bandeira Square in the bustling downtown of Brazil’s biggest city, The Cultural Centre of the Red Bull Station is a five-storey space renovated by Triptyque for the creation of art, music and culture.
Formerly owned by the São Paulo Tramway, Light and Power Company, the 1920s building was once responsible for distributing electricity across the city’s tram network. Triptyque was tasked with restoring the listed facade while creating an interior that combined a music studio, ateliers for artists, an art gallery and a roof terrace.
The architects added a black steel staircase down one side of the building, linking its five levels and providing an easy flow of visitor circulation up, down, in and around the building.
Accompanying the stairs is a steel beam which supports the metal awning known as Leaf. This structure provides a covered terrace, which functions as an exhibition space showcasing the history of the city.
The concave design of this canopy also allows the collection of rainwater, which can be used to cool the building.
Visitors enter on the ground floor, where the main gallery is located. Here, a blend of concrete mixes with panels of distressed, stippled paintwork; the result of years of repainting by the previous tenants.
Next to the main gallery is a self-contained music studio. The heavyweight concrete module was inserted into the heart of the building as a free-standing structure, and will house Red Bull’s Bass Camp – an immersive programme for would-be music professionals. There’s also a small cafe selling drinks and food.
Above the ground floor is a mezzanine level containing offices that look down on to the lobby space below, while the basement has been adapted to create a secondary exhibition space and music rehearsal rooms.
“The building was completely renovated respecting the architectural heritage concepts,” explained the team. “A contemporary intervention was carried out in order to adapt the building to its new role as a cultural hub.”
The exposed concrete and old paintwork continues on the upper levels, where six workshops were created for artistic residencies. Around each of the individual workshops, another exhibition space called the Gallery of Transition will temporarily host projects.
“The essence of the historic building has been preserved, and the beauty of its elements has been strengthened,” said the designers.
This isn’t the first time Red Bull has worked with architects to create spaces for artists. In 2012, Spanish studio Langarita-Navarro Arquitectos filled a Madrid warehouse with makeshift huts and a wilderness of plants to provide a nomadic music academy for the drinks brand.
Triptyque is a French-Brazilian architecture office created in 2000 by Grégory Bousquet, Carolina Bueno, Guillaume Sibaud and Olivier Raffaelli. Past projects include the Leitão 653 creative studios, which feature a chequerboard facade made from glass blocks.
Photography is by Pedro Kok.
Here’s a project description from Triptyque:
The Cultural Centre of the Red Bull Station: an island of culture in downtown Sao Paulo
The city of São Paulo is one of the places in the world where urbanity is the most powerful and intense. An area where the beauty of the streets and buildings was forgotten for many years. Through the renovation of a 20 years building, formerly occupied by the electricity company Light , the new architectural project Triptyque, the Cultural Centre of the Red Bull Station, appears as an important player in the rehabilitation centre.
Based on the Bandeira square , the new cultural centre hangs together auditory and visual arts through the production and dissemination of new forms of artistic expression.
The building was completely renovated respecting the architectural heritage concepts. A contemporary intervention was carried out in order to adapt the building to its new role as a cultural hub. The essence of the historic building has been preserved, and the beauty of its elements has been strengthened.
An architectural element was created to accompany visitors throughout their visit, from the stairs to the five floors of the Red Bull Station and numerous spaces. On the roof of the station, flaps a fleet metal called “sheet” that covers the terrace.
On one side of the ground floor is located the main gallery, a space that houses exhibitions of all forms of visual arts , performances and concerts. On the other side, is located a volume of concrete, carefully polished and sculpted that receives a music studio.
The basement has been converted into an exhibition space and music rehearsal rooms. Upstairs, six workshops were created for artistic residencies that will change each quarter. Around individual workshops, the “Gallery of transition” temporarily host projects in their creative process.
The post São Paulo warehouse revamped into
Red Bull arts centre by Triptyque appeared first on Dezeen.
A square wall covered in plants announces the presence of this concrete housing block in São Paulo by Brazilian architecture studio TACOA (photos by Leonardo Finotti + slideshow).
Entitled Vila Aspicuelta, the terrace of eight compact houses sits perpendicular to the adjacent street, but its north-facing end wall provides a growing area for a variety of bushy plants and shrubs.
Rodrigo Cerviño Lopez and Fernando Falcon of TACOA chose to plan the building as a series of maisonettes rather than as a simple housing block, meaning that each residence would have more than one floor and its own private access.
“The eight houses that compose Vila Aphins challenge the logic of vertical buildings: the different units are disposed side by side horizontally, and function vertically,” said the architects.
The building is raised off the ground to create parking spaces at ground level. Eight separate concrete staircases lead up to each of the residences, creating a zigzagging volume along the western edge of the block.
The first floor of every house is a living area with a kitchen counter and enough space for a dining table.
A second row of staircases leads up to bedrooms and bathrooms on the next level up, while a third set of stairs ascends to private gardens on the roof.
Wooden screens cover a wall of windows in the bedroom and bathroom of each home, but fold back to reveal a row of balconies at the rear.
The east-facing orientation of these windows ensures that the houses are filled with sunlight in the mornings but are shaded during hot afternoons.
Photography is by Leonardo Finotti.
Here’s some extra information from TACOA:
Vila Aspicuelta
The eight houses that compose Vila Aphins challenge the logic of vertical buildings: the different units are disposed side by side horizontally, and function vertically.
The street continues through the villa, partially covered by the building, and gives access to the staircase of each individual unit. The parking lot, gardens and common areas are also placed on this street.
On the first floor of every house, one single area provides space for the kitchen, dining and living. The second floor was conceptualised as a private area, a bedroom with a balcony and garden and a bathroom. Finally, on the rooftop, an open air plaza is set, with individual spaces.
The eastern orientation of the villa enables the houses to enjoy sunny mornings, shady afternoons and crossed ventilation. The western facade hosts the access stairs of the houses and unifies all the units, providing the vila its wavy project identity.
Architect: TACOA Arquitetos – Rodrigo Cerviño Lopez and Fernando Falcon
Collaborator: Eloá Augusto Gonçalves
The post Wall of bushy plants fronts São Paulo
housing block by TACOA appeared first on Dezeen.
This performing arts centre in São Paulo by Brasil Arquitetura features huge concrete volumes lifted off the ground to create accessible public spaces and has been named on the shortlist for the Designs of the Year awards, announced this week (+ slideshow).
Local firm Brasil Arquitetura designed the expansion of the existing Praça das Artes complex, situated in a densely built neighbourhood of São Paulo, around a central plaza and paved thoroughfare that extends to the streets bordering three sides of the site.
A complex arrangement of modular buildings interspersed among the existing urban fabric accommodates various events spaces, facilities and infrastructure for the centre, which is home to several musical and dance organisations.
In some places the new additions project outwards to create sheltered walkways or hover in gaps between other buildings, marking entrances to the centre and presenting a uniform presence on all sides of the site.
“The new buildings are mainly positioned along the boundaries of the site and, to a large degree, lifted off the ground,” said the architects. “Thus, it was possible to create open spaces and generous circulation areas, resulting in the plaza which gives the project its name.”
The historic facades of a former musical conservatory and a cinema have been retained and integrated into the scheme, with the conservatory undergoing a programme of restoration including the renovation of its first floor concert hall and the creation of an exhibition space on the raised ground floor.
“These historic buildings are physical and symbolic records, remains of the city of the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century,” the architects explained. “Restored in all aspects and converted for new uses, they will sustain a life to be invented. Incorporated into the project, they became unconfined from neighbouring constructions and gained new meanings.”
The new buildings are predominantly rendered in concrete coloured with ochre pigment, with a tower housing offices, toilets, changing rooms and building services standing out due to its red pigmented concrete surfaces.
An angular staircase encased in concrete and glass connects the plaza with the first floor of the tower, providing access to the concert hall.
Windows scattered across the facades sit in places where acoustic performance is a key consideration, while floating floor slabs, acoustic walls and ceilings made from gypsum and rock wool also help to optimise acoustics throughout the building.
Photography is by Nelson Kon.
Here’s some more information from the architects:
PRAÇA DAS ARTES
Performing Arts Centre – São Paulo
“… one thing is the physical place, different to the place for the project. The place is not a point of departure, but rather a point of
arrival. Realising what this place is, is already doing the project.” – Álvaro Siza
Some architectural projects are dominant in large open spaces, in favoured conditions and visible from a distance. Other projects need to adapt to adverse conditions, minimal spaces, small wedges of long plots, leftovers between existing constructions, where the parameters for developing the project are dictated by these factors.
Praça das Artes is part of the latter category. It is not by a voluntary decision or by opting for one or the other approach, by this or the other direction to be taken, that lead us to a conceptual choice and conclusion. It is the very nature of the place; our comprehension of it as a space resulting from many years – or centuries – of socio-political factors that shaped the city.
To understand the place not only as a physical object, as Siza says, but as a space of tension, with conflicts of interest, characterised by underuse or even abandonment, all this counts. If on the one hand the Praça das Artes project has to account for the demands of a programme of various new functions, related to the arts of music and dance, it also has to clearly and transformatively respond to an existing physical and spatial situation with an intense life and a strongly present neighbourhood. Moreover, it must create new public common spaces using the urban geography, local history and contemporary values of public life.
We may say that, in this case, to design a project is to capture and to invent a place at the same time and in the same strategy.
The place of the project
The physical place, in the centre of São Paulo, is made up of a series of plots that are connected in the middle of the urban block and have fronts to three streets. This situation is a result of the mistakes of an urbanism that was always subordinated to the idea of the plot, the logic of private property. As almost the entire city centre, the area is chaotic in terms of building volumes and common sense principles of sunlight and natural ventilation. It is an accumulation of underused or vacant spaces, abandoned, forgotten, awaiting to be of interest to the city once again.
The architecture of the former Dramatic and Musical Conservatory and the Cairo Cinema portray marks and memories of different eras. At the same time, the place presents a privileged situation in view of its surrounding humanity, being full of diversity, vitality, a mixture of social classes, conflicts and tensions typical of a large city, living together and the search for tolerance. Shortly, it is a place rich in urbanity.
The programme
The project has a rich and complex programme with a focus on musical and dance activities, besides public uses of coexistence, which permeate the entire complex.
The module of the Resident Performing Arts companies houses the Professional bodies: the Municipal Symphonic Orchestra, the Experimental Repertory Orchestra, the Lyrical Choir, the São Paulo Choir, the City Ballet Company and the Municipal String Quartet. The module faces rua Formosa (Anhangabaú) and incorporates the façade of the former Cairo Cinema.
The module of the Schools and public uses accommodates educational and common spaces – the Municipal Music School, the Municipal Dance School, a restaurant and common space. The module occupies volumes that lift up from the ground on avenida São João and rua Conselheiro Crispiniano. The street level underneath the building volumes is practically unobstructed. The kiosks along the edge of the plaza, newspaper booths, cafés, snack bars, a library – are a continuation of the existing uses along the street, bringing the urban life to the interior of the new architectural complex.
The module with a large public car parking occupies the underground floors on avenida São João (the former Saci Cinema) and rua Conselheiro Crispiniano.
The module of the Conservatory includes the restoration and adaptation of the former Dramatic and Musical Conservatory and a new tower on the plot next to it, facing avenida São João. On the raised ground floor of the historic building there is a space for exhibitions and events. The concert hall on the first floor was carefully restored to once again stage musical shows. The new tower next to the Conservatory houses the arts collections and historic archives of all the bodies of the project. The addition to the historic building houses the vertical circulation system, administrative offices and building services.
The Project
Since the initial site study, the former Conservatory, restored and converted into a concert hall and an exhibition space, represented the anchor for the project. The new buildings are mainly positioned along the boundaries of the site and, to a large degree, lifted off the ground. Thus, it was possible to create open spaces and generous circulation areas, resulting in the plaza which gives the project its name. This paved plaza can be accessed from rua Conselheiro Crispiniano, avenida São João and, in the next construction phase, also from rua Formosa (Anhangabaú) via a flight of stairs, which connect the different levels of the streets.
The new volumes reach from the centre outwards towards the three adjacent streets. A series of interconnected buildings in exposed concrete, with ochre pigments, accommodate the various functions and is the main element establishing a new dialogue with the neighbourhood and with the remaining constructions that will be incorporated into the project, the former Conservatory and the façade and foyer of the former Cairo Cinema.
These historic buildings are physical and symbolic records, remains of the city of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Restored in all aspects and converted for new uses, they will sustain a life to be invented. Incorporated them into the project, they became unconfined from neighbouring constructions and gained new meanings. The historic building on Avenida São João came into being as a commercial exhibition space for pianos in 1986, then gained an extension to become a hotel and shortly after was transformed into a musical conservatory, even before the creation of the Municipal Theatre, for which it is a precursor, in certain ways, and the training centre for the musicians who would then make up its orchestra.
A new addition to the Conservatory was built, which works as a pivot point for all departments and sectors within the complex. All administrative offices, vertical circulation (stairs and lifts), entrance and distribution halls, toilets, changing rooms, and shafts for building services are concentrated in this building, which is the only one coloured with red pigments. Towards the plaza, a sculptural triangular staircase built in concrete and glass allows for a direct access between the level of the plaza and the first floor, where the concert hall is located.
Besides the coloured concrete, the windows represent an important part of project. They are either externally attached or placed within the opening. In the rooms with special acoustic requirements, the windows are fixed and attached to the building from the outside with 16mm-thick glass; in other spaces awning windows are used.
In order to satisfy the high requirements in preventing the propagation of noise and vibrations, specific details were used, such as floating slabs, acoustic walls and ceilings made of gypsum panels and rock wool, a system called acoustic isolation.
The administrative office areas of the extension to the Conservatory are equipped with a raised floor, which means that electrical, logistical, and communication installations can be adapted freely for allowing a greater flexibility in the arrangements of the work spaces. It was possible to achieve large spans without intermediate columns by using shear walls, thus guaranteeing complete flexibility of the internal spaces and unobstructed external spaces on the plaza level.
The post Praça das Artes by Brasil Arquitetura features
concrete boxes projecting over a public plaza appeared first on Dezeen.
The Brazil headquarters for retail conglomerate Walmart’s online division by Estudio Guto Requena has colour-coded levels and a terrace with a miniature golf course (+ slideshow).
Brazil firm Estudio Guto Requena aimed to create informal meeting spaces similar to those found in workplaces of technology companies on each of the floors at the Walmart.com headquarters, which occupies the sixth to tenth levels of a tower in São Paulo.
Communal areas are treated like balconies or patios, with outdoor furniture such as deck chairs, hammock-like seats and wicker swings set up for employees to socialise like neighbours.
“This is a very special project for us,” studio founder Guto Requena told Dezeen. “The very first time in Walmart history that they invested so much attention in design for their space. Pushing their newest office to have a strong identity and a cosy interior… an interesting overlap between Walmart DNA and strong Brazilian culture.”
Meeting rooms are grouped into volumes at the centre of the open-plan office space on each level, surrounded by curved walls clad with timber strips on the outside.
Surfaces, furniture and window frames in these spaces are treated in a different wood and a colour from Walmart’s branding on each floor.
The yellow floor includes the employees’ cafe, while a pool table is situated in the green zone, and a lounge with sofas and guitars is set up in one of the orange rooms.
The informal meeting spaces are located in pockets formed by the odd shape of these blocks, with carpet and furniture matching those in the adjacent rooms.
A minigolf course was designed especially for the terrace on the sixth level, where there’s also a space for yoga and a seating area in front of a stage for hosting small events, concerts and film screenings.
Photography is by Fran Parente.
Here’s some more information from Estudio Guto Requena:
Walmart.com Office
Pre-design Research Methodology
The design for the Walmart.com Offices was derived from a research methodology developed by Estudio Guto Requena. Interviews and dynamic online exchanges with company employees were conducted to assess values, needs and expectations.
Three principal focal points emerged from this process: digital culture, the Walmart.com brand and brasilidade (Brazilian identity). This research also informed the choice of colours, materials, forms, programming and design concepts.
Conceptual Framework
We applied these three focal points and their commonalities to an exploration of the building’s prominent terrace and developed from this a guiding concept for the company’s headquarters: the Urban Veranda. Design choices reference the Brazilian habit of engaging outdoor areas for social interaction and relaxation.
Elements include beach chairs, the many large buildings with terraced facades, picnics (visible in the carpet patterning), the patios and balconies of Brazilian homes, and the rural habit of placing a chair in the street to enjoy the evening and chat with neighbours.
Program and Identity
The headquarters occupy five floors with over a thousand square meters each. One of the challenges of this project was to bring a more human dimension to the work environment with spaces that are welcoming and comfortable, even pleasant and informal, while maintaining professionalism and practicality. Other challenges included a lean budget and a tight deadline.
To help locate and guide visitors and employees in this large area, we created a unique visual identity for each floor through centralised cocoons that develop organically between the pillars and break the rigidity of the orthogonal space. Each floor was designed with a predominant wood type.
Pine, OSB, Eucalyptus and Masisa Zurich combine with a single colour in various shades, all chosen from the official Walmart colour palate of yellow, orange, blue and green. Different floors house individual departments, such as Business, Sales, Human Resources or Finance, and also contain lounges and decompression environments, including games rooms, film screening areas, video games and a library. These areas are to encourage the exchange of ideas and interaction between employees from different departments.
Lighting
Workstations are located near windows to take advantage of daylight, and the lighting design prioritises economy. In lounges and decompression areas indirect light is used in amber hues with decorative fixtures. Specifically created for this project is the hanging Gourd Lamp made from the fruit itself.
Traditionally, these have been used in Brazil as containers, and also as resonators in musical instruments such as the chocalho, the berimbau and the maracá. Dried gourds were painted gray inside and arrayed on a wooden support, with colorful wiring left exposed.
Furniture and Decoration
We prioritised the use of domestic furniture in both the offices and lounges, with signed pieces by the established Brazilians designers Maurício Arruda, Jader Almeida, Lina Bo Bardi, and Paulo Alves and Fernando Jaeger. We also included pieces that are part of the popular Brazilian imagination, such as rocking chairs, beach chairs, porch chairs and picnic tables.
For the production of objects and decorative elements we used images of contemporary Brazilian photographers, as well as maps, illustrations and Brazilian folk art. Skateboards and bikes reference the lifestyles of younger employees.
Greenery
Throughout the office we emphasised the use of plants, and created a green belt that runs through the peripheral spaces and contributes to the identity and warmth of the work environment.
Terrace
The outdoor area was designed for both work and relaxation. Wood decking orders the environment, together with porch furniture, shaded areas, a space for yoga and a grandstand facing the facade that can host small events, concerts and film screenings. A mini-golf course was also specially designed for the terrace.
The post Walmart office in Brazil has a
crazy golf course on the roof appeared first on Dezeen.
A spiral staircase made from Brazilian ironwood links two floors inside this São Paulo house, which was designed by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld as a private gallery and guest house for two art collectors (+ slideshow).
Isay Weinfeld was commissioned by the couple to create a house they could use to present exhibitions, host parties and house guests during events such as the São Paulo Art Biennial.
Located on the same street as both the client’s own home and the Isay Weinfeld-designed Yucatan House, Casa Cubo is a three-storey building in São Paulo’s Jardins district.
A double-height living room on the ground floor is the largest space in the house. With white walls and a poured concrete floor, it offers a blank canvas for displaying pantings, sculptures and a selection of designer furniture pieces.
Two staircases are visible inside the room. On one wall a folded steel staircase leads up to a first-floor mezzanine accommodating a library, while on the opposite side a wooden staircase ascends from the first floor to three bedrooms at the top of the house.
Both staircases are suspended from above and appear to be floating just above the floor.
Furniture chosen for the living room includes pieces by Alvar Aalto, Pierre Jeanneret, Gio Ponti and Lina Bo Bardi. Glass doors run along one edge and open the space out to a terrace, garden and lily pond.
The exterior of the house is primarily clad with cement panels, apart from a section near the top that is covered with wood.
Photography is Fernando Guerra.
Here’s some more information from Isay Weinfeld:
Casa Cubo by Isay Weinfeld
Casa Cubo, the initiative of a couple of art collectors, was conceived to house a lodging and support center to artists and the development of the arts, but with all necessary facilities to serve as a home. The program was solved within a cubic block, split vertically into three levels and a mezzanine, whose façades are treated graphically as a combination of lines defined by the cladding cement plaques, by the glass strip on the mezzanine, and the striped wood composition that changes as the bedroom windows are opened and closed.
The service nucleus is located at the front of the ground level, comprising a kitchen, a restroom, a dining room and an entrance hall giving way to the wide room with double ceiling height and polished concrete floor, intended to host events, exhibitions or even work as a lounge that opens onto the backyard.
The mezzanine of the lounge, standing on the slab topping the service nucleus on the ground floor, houses the library, which is marked by three strong elements: a shelving unit extending the whole back wall, a strip of fixed glass next to the floor and a spiral staircase covered in wood that leads to the private quarters upstairs.
Private quarters consist of 3 bedrooms and a living room thoroughly lit through a floor-to-ceiling opening. The garage and service areas are located in the basement.
Architecture: Isay Weinfeld
Collaborators: Domingos Pascali, Marcelo Alvarenga
Project manager: Monica Cappa Santoni
Design team: Juliana Scalizi, Leandro Garcia
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Built area: 715m²
General contractor: Fernando Leirner – Bona Engenharia
Structural engineering: Benedictis Engenharia Ltda
Staircase mettallic structure engineering: Inner Engenharia e Gerenciamento Ltda
Electrical and plumbing engineering: Tesis Engenharia Ltda
Air conditioning: CHD Sistemas De Ar Condicionado e Instalações Ltda
Landscape design: Isabel Duprat Paisagismo
The post Casa Cubo by
Isay Weinfeld appeared first on Dezeen.
Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld designed this apartment block in São Paulo as 62 “houses with yards”, which are stacked on top of one another like the blocks of a Jenga game (+ slideshow).
The 360º Building, which was presented at the World Architecture Festival earlier this month, is a 20-storey tower block located at the peak of a ridge between the neighbourhoods of Alto de Pinheiros and Alto da Lapa in the west of the city.
Isay Weinfeld wanted to avoid the typical São Paulo typology of compact apartments with little or no outside space. “We have strived to introduce 360º Building as an alternative to the vertical multi-family housing model, which, in its commonest form, merely stacks up apartment units,” said the studio.
Rather than adding small balconies, the architect gave each home its own terrace. These spaces are all tucked between apartments, offering shelter from the elements and a degree of privacy.
Apartment sizes vary from 130 to 250 square-metres in area, and there are between two and four homes on each floor.
These specifications provide a total of six different floor types, which alternate to create a volume reminiscent of Jenga – a children’s game where wooden blocks are removed from a tower and placed back on top.
The base of the building is set into the hillside. Residents enter via a suspended walkway at first-floor level, bridging a swimming pool that runs around the perimeter.
Communal lounge areas and laundry facilities are located on the ground floor, while three floors of parking are housed in the basement.
The project was shortlisted in the housing award category at the World Architecture Festival, but lost out to an apartment block inside a former YMCA building in Los Angeles. One year earlier, Weinfeld’s Fazenda Boa Vista Golf Clubhouse topped the sports category.
Photography is by Fernando Guerra.
Here’s more information from Isay Weinfeld:
360º Building
360º Building will be erected in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, where currently over 10 million people live spread over 1,525 km2. In this setting, unfortunately the “norm” is to live not at one’s best, but crammed and confined, and to commute long distances everyday between home, work and other commitments, by car, bus, or subway. The time left for leisure is scarce, and few are the options to enjoy activities in the open air.
Mindful of the urban reality in São Paulo, of the market and of the client brief, we have strived to introduce 360º Building as an alternative to the vertical multi-family housing “model”, which, in its commonest form, merely stacks up apartment units – ordinary, compact and closed onto themselves.
360º Building, rising on top of the ridge separating the districts of Alto de Pinheiros and Alto da Lapa – a geographic location that will offer privileged sights of the surrounding area and the city -, will feature 62 elevated “homes with yards”: real yards, not balconies, designed as genuine living spaces, wide, airy and bright. It will present 7 types of apartments – either 130, 170 or 250 m2 – combined in sets of 2, 3 or 4 units per floor, in 6 different arrangements.
Leaving the street and past the reception, a suspended walkway will lead to the building’s lobby, surrounded on all sides by a reflective pool. Down one floor, on the ground level, entertaining areas and other facilities – gym, lounge, party room and laundry – will be located, as also the janitor’s living quarters. Further down, there will be 3 parking levels, and, on the lowermost level, employees quarters, storage and engine rooms, in addition to a sauna and an outdoor swimming pool. The land, a steep downwards slope, allowed the lower levels to be semi-subterranean, always keeping 2 sides open to the light and to ventilation.
The building projects to all sides showing no distinction between main and secondary façades.
The post 360º Building by
Isay Weinfeld appeared first on Dezeen.
Movie: a recently completed concrete house in São Paulo is depicted as a luxury home from the 1950s in the latest architecture film by Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan.
Kogan, founder of São Paulo office Studio MK27, worked with film producer Lea van Steen to produce the movie, which is entitled Modern Living and based on a Bauhaus film by the late architect Richard Paulick.
The movie centres around Casa Pinheiro, a family house comprising rectilinear concrete blocks that appear to be stacked on top of one another at perpendicular angles.
A large living and dining room occupies the ground floor of the building and can be opened out to the garden by sliding glass walls, while the middle floor accommodates four bedrooms with access to a roof deck and the uppermost level contains a separate family room.
In the film, these spaces are presented as “the latest innovations in housing construction and technology,” filled with gadgets and space-saving solutions, such as a built-in vacuum cleaner and chutes for laundry and rubbish.
A garage is tucked away in the basement and is shown in the movie as the storage area for the owner’s classic Corvette.
Security is also highlighted in the film, as a housekeeper demonstrates how post can be collected “in total isolation from the outside world” and how every space can be monitored using a CCTV system.
Architect Marcio Kogan worked as a film director in his early career and this is the third film he’s produced at one of his buildings, following a house filmed through the eyes of the client’s pet cat.
Other recent buildings by Studio MK27 include a photography studio with two folding walls and a house where two chunky concrete storeys are perched above a living room without walls. See more architecture by Studio MK27 »
See more architecture movies »
See more houses in Brazil »
Photography is Fernando Guerra.
Here’s a project description from Studio MK27:
Casa Pinheiro
The Pinheiro house is a puzzle game. Rotating three volumes around one nucleus generated not only a particular spatial dynamic, but also different visual relations between empty and full, between the private and semiprivate areas and the view of the city.
The site is located on the other side of the Pinheiros River, one of the main rivers that define and cut into the city of São Paulo, in an essentially residential neighborhood, Morumbi. From there it is possible to see the entire valley filled with gardened houses, the river and, on the other margin, another hill, the corporate area of the city drawing the metropolitan skyline with its typical skyscrapers.
The program boasts three floors: a garden, a terrace with fireplace and barbecue, home theatre, dining and living rooms, washroom, kitchen, four bedrooms, office and family room. In the basement: a garage, laundry room, utility rooms and a gym. The nucleus of the circulation is made of a continuous staircase joined in a structural wall. This block, which organises the structure and distributes the fluxes, is the pivot around which the boxes revolve.
The volumes are developed to create constant and distinct relations between the inner and outer spaces. The bedrooms on the second floor look out to the pool and take advantage of the deck above the roof of the living and dining rooms. The box comprising the bedrooms projects outwards over both sides of the first box. From one side, the cantilever determines the main entrance of the house and, on the other, it shades the terrace.
The spiral movement continues with the third box, supported by the second and projecting outwards over the first. It shades the window of the master bedroom and part of the deck while, simultaneously, creates new visual relations with the other bedrooms and the terrace.
All of the boxes are bare concrete frames. The living room and the bedrooms have their sides closed by freijó wooden folding panels which filter the light and allow for permanent crossed ventilation. The family room, on the top floor is enclosed by glass, to preserve the view.
The result strengthens interactions, the crossing of eye views and vectors through the garden: eyes that see the view and the treetops around the pool, eyes that are turned back to the house itself, its volumetry and, above all else, to its own life.
Project: Pinheiro House
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Architecture: Studio MK27
Architect: Marcio Kogan
Co-architect: Lair Reis
Interiors: Diana Radomysler
Collaborators: Carolina Castroviejo, Carlos Costa, Laura Guedes, Mariana Simas, Oswaldo Pessano, Suzana Glogowski
Team: Andrea Macruz, Samanta Cafardo, Renata Furlanetto
Architecture collaborator: Fernanda Reiva
The post Casa Pinheiro by
Studio MK27 appeared first on Dezeen.
Perforated yellow cupboards and drawers resemble slices of Swiss cheese inside this apartment in São Paulo by Brazilian architects Zoom Urbanismo (+ slideshow).
Zoom Urbanismo renovated the flat for a young couple, moving partitions to create an open-plan kitchen, living room and dining area with an original parquet floor and an exposed brick wall.
“The big windows, high ceiling and the good quality of the wooden floor showed that the apartment had potential,” said the architects, “but the closed spaces, divided by the walls, had poor lighting and ventilation, and deteriorated wall coverings.”
Bright yellow cupboards unite the various spaces and are dotted with holes that mimic star constellations. These holes can also be used as handles.
Thick concrete pillars frame the walls and high ceilings in the dining area and are lined with bookshelves on one side.
Sliding glass doors lead out from the living room to a terrace with a view over the city.
A corridor leads back towards two bedrooms, bathrooms, and a laundry room. These spaces also include perforated cupboards, but feature wooden and white-painted surfaces rather than yellow.
Other apartments we’ve featured include one in the Ukraine with a combined bookshelf and staircase, a 1950s inspired flat in Tel Aviv and a renovated residence in the Prenzlauerberg district of Berlin.
See more apartments »
See more architecture and design in Brazil »
Photography is by Maíra Acayaba.
Here’s a description from the architects:
Apartment Apinagés
In the neighbourhood of Perdizes, in São Paulo, a young couple (an executive and a graphic designer) purchased the top apartment in a four-storey charming and old building.
The big windows, the high ceiling and the good quality of the wooden floor (all common in old constructions) showed that the apartment had potential, but the closed spaces, divided by the walls, had poor lighting and ventilation and deteriorated wall coverings.
The internal distribution of the apartment was reorganised in order to optimise and integrate the spaces. The social area became wide and articulated with the kitchen and the back balcony, which also contains the laundry.
A big shelf/cabinet/stand, with a dynamic set of full and empty spaces, links the living room with the kitchen.
The shelves and cabinets have different heights, so that many objects could be stored and shown. The cabinet doors have small holes that, combined, form the geometry of constellations. The holes are also handles for the cabinets.
Location: Brazil, Sao Paulo
Status: constructed
Started: February 2012
Finished: June 2012
Area: 109,00 sqm
Architects: Guilherme Ortenblad, Samira Rodrigues, Augusto Aneas, Fernão Morato (authors), Fabiano Reis, Kathleen Chiang and Lígia Lupo.
The post Apartment Apinagés
by Zoom Urbanismo appeared first on Dezeen.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
