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Architects: Sergio Sampaio Archi + Tectônica
- Area: 1300 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Leonardo Finotti, Rafaela Netto
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Manufacturers: Way Engenharia
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Lead Architect: Sergio Sampaio
Concept
The house was designed for a family and friends with the desire to appreciate nature, engage in sports, and enjoy leisure by the Jurumirim Dam in Avaré/SP, located 270 km from São Paulo. The construction, totaling 1,300 m2, is situated on an 11,000 m2 plot with a view of the dam.
The extensive program of the house is organized into 4 functional blocks:
- Garage, energy board, and gas shelter.
- Living room, wine cellar, kitchen, laundry on the ground floor. Game Room on the lower floor.
- 4 guest suites.
- Couple's and children's suites on the ground floor. Boat garage on the lower floor
The connection between the blocks is established by an elevated wooden deck walkway, 3m wide, forming a circulation axis from the entrance, passing through all sectors of the house, culminating in a balcony with a barbecue, living spaces, and a pool overlooking the dam.
A delicate cross-laminated timber marquee covering this circulation axis is supported by slender pillars made of turned MLC wood, directly connecting the roof to the foundation shoes emerging from the ground. In contrast to this elevated deck and slender marquee, the 4 functional blocks consist of thick rammed earth walls, sourced from the site itself, executed on a massive in-situ reinforced concrete base that emerges from the natural terrain, highlighting the slope of the land as the construction approaches the dam's shores.
Spatially, the house presents two sensory environmental situations:
- In the functional blocks, there are volumes where the internal space is "compressed," with few openings, a ceiling height of 2.60m, control of sunlight incidence, and thermal-acoustic isolation provided by the thick rammed earth walls.
- Under the marquee covering the wooden deck walkway and balcony, there is the enjoyment of open spaces without lateral enclosures, promoting the integration of the landscape into the composition. In these areas, the presence of winds, sunlight, rain, and freely circulating birds among the rammed earth volumes is felt continuously.
It is a construction whose natural material textures, play of light and shadow, interstitial spaces and landscape integration make the architectural object an addition to the natural context in a contemplative way and the perception of the "subtle substances of architecture".
Comfort and Innovation:
Materials specified for construction were chosen to achieve optimal thermal-acoustic insulation performance while expressing the architectural solutions and highlighting the materiality of components as aesthetic elements. The entire construction is structured with rammed earth walls on an in-situ reinforced concrete base emerging from the foundations. Rammed Earth, a time-honored construction technique, excels in thermal-acoustic insulation, and its execution process is simplified, utilizing materials extracted from the site's soil.
Natural light and cross ventilation are ensured through crystal Venetian domes in the bathrooms and openings framed by sliding aluminum frames with laminated UV-resistant clear glass. Electrical and plumbing installations pass between the pine wood ceiling and the precast hollow core roof. Cable runs and pipelines are concentrated in maintenance shafts distributed equidistantly throughout the construction, and technical gutters run horizontally freely under the floor slab in the void of the foundation.
Sustainability
The project was conceived and planned to make construction processes more efficient to minimize environmental impact. The work was executed in two phases:
- Earth movements, drainage, hydrosanitary connections, and the execution of foundations and in-situ reinforced concrete base using local labor.
- Production of industrialized components (CLT panels, MLC beams, aluminum frames, and trays for ventilated facades) in the São Paulo metropolitan region. Transportation and assembly were done using a crane truck and specialized installers who fixed all structures and seals with male-female and screw systems.
The project's modularization, predominant use of renewable materials (wood), lightweight structures, and segmented pieces for easy transport optimized the construction timeline and drastically reduced water consumption, waste generation, and material waste. Additionally, innovative processes and project planning promoted the technical qualification of local labor and suppliers during the construction process. All carpentry (deck, pier, doors, and pine ceiling) and metalwork (railings, external stairs, benches, and balcony table, etc.) were developed in collaboration with local suppliers, incorporating local tradition into the architectural project in an enriching manner, while optimizing logistics and reducing environmental impact from material transportation.
The elevation of the house volumes above the ground prevents the transfer of heat and moisture into the interior, combined with the thermal insulation properties of wood and rammed earth, ample natural ventilation and lighting, a thermoplastic membrane roof, and solar panels for water heating and photovoltaic energy generation ensure the environmental comfort of the residence while reducing electricity costs for artificial lighting and air conditioning, making its use more eco-efficient
