Carrara House / Studio [+] Valéria Gontijo

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: Studio [+] Valéria Gontijo
Area: 615 m²
Year: 2010
Photographs:manufatura creative
Manufacturers: Deca, Rubens Gori, Talentus Esquadrias, Vallori, kitchens
Lightining design: Companhia de Iluminação, Rafael Kok Bertolucci
Execution and Construction Management: RM Construção e Consultoria

Text description provided by the architects. The House Carrara’s Project is located in the modernist city of Brasilia and has considered this topic as a determinant factor for its architectural concept and materials choice, also allied to the aesthetic sense the clients were looking for, after all, the environment and the architecture conceived had to be designed to be occupied by dreams, people and its objects.

Then, it was born a residential project for a couple and its two children, who loved cement, concrete and wood. Out of this dream the house has formed its shape with a clear and objective volume, intentionally creating integrated spaces allying functionality to the modernism required by the city and the family’s day life.

The project’s program consists of an intimate house on the top floor, where all the rooms give access to an extensive exposed balcony that acts as a big solarium for contemplation. This results in great environments for each resident.

Carrara House / Studio [+] Valéria Gontijo - Facade — © manufatura creative

On the ground floor, all the rooms are divided by operable doors and panels that aid in connecting and isolating spaces. Living room, home theater, kitchen, balcony and gourmet area are connected by the house’s transparency even with the use of concrete and wood panels. The use of the same type of flooring helps the perception of the grand scenario.

The kitchen integrates with the dining room by folding doors that follow the same cumaru’s wood sheating of the large slatted wood panel hiding the stairs that give access to the top floor rooms, always seeking an intimate and direct circulation. The same flooring on the living room and the gourmet area creates the spaces’ breadth and integration.

The blind facade is structured by an apparent fuldget and concrete painting, to preserve the gray brutalist language of the proposed architecture. Rebars were used as panels on the frontal gate, strengthening the idea of the main materials of the project: cement, steel and wood.

The landscape was executed by Ana Paula Róseo’s office along with the client herself, who loves architecture and has always participated and helped on the project’s conception.

The pool is sheated on hijau’s stone, throwing back to the moments lived by the client who experienced traveling to Asia. The deck is made out of dehydrated wood with no varnish.