-
Architects: Memola Estúdio
- Area: 167 m²
Text description provided by the architects. Despite the distance contact with the couple of clients who lived in Buenos Aires when the project started, our relationship was always one of complete proximity. They were aware of our work and selected references from our projects to express their expectations for the new house.
On one hand, the reform should reflect the cosmopolitan lifestyle of the contractors - Brazilians who lived in more than one city abroad and met while living outside of Brazil. On the other hand, the invitation was to apply our creative principles, of living the new with the old, of rustic or industrial with objects or systems that print delicacy to the environments. The challenge was to reformulate the apartment by discarding the minimum of what was already ready to live.
The situation was that of a residence with a very bright living room, although devoid of a terrace, and bedrooms accessible through an intimate wing. Also, the kitchen was isolated from the social area, with which it connected through an area for the dining table. The layout changes aimed, then, at transforming one of the bedrooms into an office visually integrated with the living room, but capable of being closed for privacy, and expanding the kitchen added to its greater connection with the living room. The clients appreciate cooking and like to do it while keeping in touch with the dynamics of the house.
Thus, the structural alterations, demolition of walls, and changes in wet areas, were concentrated in the center of the apartment, where the living room is adjacent to the reformulated environments to meet the program. Part of the intimate corridor was annexed to the office but, in compensation, the old wardrobe was turned into the social area in order to serve as a sideboard for the dining table. The old pantry was eliminated and fully incorporated into the completely redesigned kitchen - and we inverted the layout of the sink and basin of the toilet to improve the position of the entrance door in the environment. Also, the wall that served as a backdrop to the social entrance was demolished, enlarging the opening of the kitchen to the living room.
Guided by structural inspection, these modifications were not visually omitted. The concrete surfaces highlight the original structure - a sum of beams of different heights and not always aligned with each other - and the removed masonry is demarcated by cement strips that cross the pre-existing wooden floor.
The office was surrounded by a fixed glass frame, paginated in horizontal bands on the face facing the living room and the one next to the dining area. Thus, an interesting visual relationship is created between the environment and the living room benefits from the greater ingress of natural light. All new internal frames follow the same pagination logic and, glazed, collaborate for the greater luminosity of the apartment. A new passage door was created for the bedroom corridor and a new set of windows/doors was created to connect the kitchen to the service area at the back.
The new layout is of a kitchen island, with a large countertop made of stainless steel - embedded on one side and supported on the other, on a discreet pillar made of the same material. To balance the industrial language and the lack of cabinets, a display cabinet made of demolition wood was designed and special care was taken in the choice of stools next to the counter, whose comfort for long stays was a priority for the clients.
The visual neutrality of the materials predominates, counterbalanced by the highlight of the project: the tiles. Dominantly in light tones, they cover long surfaces - the two faces of the wall base between the living room and the office, some of the pillars, the extensive L-shaped countertop designed for the living room - and have special pagination, with the spaced insertion of pieces in a burnt yellow tone. Thus, color and graphics are added to the project, giving youthfulness to the overall ambiance.
The choice of all the furniture was part of the project, including scattered pieces of mining. The repackaging of the bathrooms was delicate but impactful, with the replacement of coatings and the redesign of cabinet doors, and the lighting adds general light with punctual, made by equally mining luminaires.
