House in Salvador / Norte Arquitetos

Curated by Pedro Vada

Architects: Norte Arquitetos
Area: 334 m²
Year: 2016
Photographs:Manuel Sá

Text description provided by the architects. The house, located in a private condominium in Salvador of Bahia, Brazil, was designed to meet the needs of a young couple with a daughter. The terrain had a trapezoidal shape, with a front of 13m, 40m sides and a 24m back. The topography was more favorable to the implantation of a building in a range of 20m from the front of the lot, since in this section the variation between levels was of 1,40m of height, the result of a slope that turned into a small plateau. The second half of the terrain had a slope of 10 meters height, with an average slope of 35%.

The northwest-southeast orientation of the lot required that the residence program would be arranged to avoid the setting sun from the west, thus enhancing the best winds from the eastern quadrant. The western facades should protect from the setting sun, having punctual openings for exhausting and providing cross ventilation. The facades of the eastern quadrant should be more open, receiving maximum ventilation and natural light. To mitigate the high temperatures of the city of Salvador, especially in summer, the pool should be at the end of the lot, in the east quadrant, receiving the prevailing winds, acting as a water surface, bringing a comfortable breeze into the building.

The goal of the project was to have the smallest constructed area possible. The only requirements of the guests were a double foyer, a swimming pool and maximum green area.

Taking advantage of the natural slope of the first portion of the terrain, a necessary dig was made for the garages and service areas of the house, half level below the front of the lot. On the ground floor, 1.40m above the level of the sidewalk, the whole social program of the residence is developed around a central patio, totally visually permeable, where one has access to the living room, kitchen, video room and a toy room . All the rooms turn to the patio, promoting greater integration of the interior and exterior spaces, functioning as a continuous plan that, from the living room, interconnects to the green areas and the pool in the background. The ground floor balcony houses the outside use program of the house and is a result of the layout of the three upper deck bedrooms. The rooms have a system of sheds, with manual activation, that allows the crossing of natural ventilation, avoiding the air conditioning use. To reduce costs, the only balcony on the first floor of the house is the result of the roof of the video room, which is established by cantilevered slab with 2m length, under the master bedroom.