The owner of this
house, at the South Lake
residential district in Brasilia, had grown up on that same street. The window
of his bedroom was opened to the view of the Paranoá Lake towards northwest, with the monumental
zone of Brasília right at the opposite bank. He had witnessed the evolution of that landscape, and
intended to keep living together with it. The house was almost fully elevated
on piloti, on the edge of
the height allowed by urban regulations, opening the view above the neighbors’
roofs.
Since they were still
a young couple without kids, the basic programme (living-room, office,
bedrooms, kitchen, laundry) was distributed only on the upper level, shortening
daily circulation – especially when kids are still small. Internal rooms were
articulated in a way to allow the view of the landscape, now the main leitmotif
of the design, complemented by
a panoramic deck freely set
over the roof.
The ground level was
distributed with small embankments in different levels, in a way to avoid an
excessive ceiling height. The garage is on an intermediate level, along with a
service area equipped with a freight elevator and an employee bedroom, in a way
that it hides the vehicles when seen from the veranda above. A small two-bedroom
flat was planned for future
occupation of the pilotis,
when kids would demand more independence – a plan executed in advance by the
owner during the construction, so it would bring more autonomy to the leisure
area and allowing the family to have gests.
The structural system,
ordered in relatively conventional spams of 5,4m and 6m commanded the design
with a strict 60cm modulation to which all the elements and components are
adjusted. Flat-beams and waffle slabs made possible a flat-ceiling formal solution,
even with the large cantilevers that allow the house to lean towards the landscape.
The living-room, the
office, and the master-bedroom – this one with a small terrace – are directly
open to the view, as it is indirectly the kitchen – connected to the
living-room by sliding panels. The integration between these rooms is also made
by a set of continuous cabinets, a stone countertop and horizontal windows –
opened to the front street-view.
In order to protect
the internal rooms from the inclemency of the tropical sun on the northwest
façade – the one open to the view – it were used one-meter eaves and a thick
sill cladded with marble, ensuring protection during the hottest times of the
day. The solution for the strip window was a set of adjustable perforated sun
blinds, concealed in an external box completely independent from the glass, and
separated from the ceiling slab enough to allow the entrance of the tenuous
sunset light – without completely blocking the view of the sky. The 40cm-hight
strip along the ceiling slab surrounds the whole elevated volume, bringing to
the interior spaces the several nuances of sunlight along the day, making more palpable the passage of time.
The recording of time,
in another duration, was also determinant on the selection of patinable cladding for the contention walls on the ground
level – rough limestone – and for the upper façade – a kind of Brazilian
travertine cut in 60cmX15cm plates. Following the same classic logic, so to say, a free-form Portuguese stone flooring integrates vegetation, internal
and external areas on the ground level, while the upper level is floored with
simple porcelain, set accordingly to the modulation of the house.