The dark materials, compartmentalized spaces and small window frames made the spaces very dark in this 400m² house built in the middle of Jardim América, in São Paulo. A significant part of what could be the garden was occupied by service circulation, rooms, laundry and laundry area. So the 15x42m terrain seemed small for everything there. In addition to the view from the master bedroom, on the first floor was an area of 130m² of corrugated fiber cement tile with a water tank on top. Since the idea was to renovate and demolish the main block was out of the question, the major structural change was to eliminate the service block and the 2 walls around it. With this was made a new construction, to meet these eliminated uses, as continuation of the dining room. In this new block, in addition to the uses previously eliminated, was made a pool support bathroom, cellar and a gourmet kitchen facing the dining room. The entire block is clad in Accoya vertical wood slat in order to camouflage the different cabinet doors and new environments. And the 90cm indentation of the roof created a covered walkway around the entire building and more visual permeability as we now have a garden on both sides. Upstairs the roof of this new building and the existing one ended up forming an 'L' which was entirely occupied by a roof garden with garden and trees and accessed by the master bedroom and a metal staircase at the bottom of the plot. The replacement of the frames and the removal of the eaves gave a cleaner air to this house dating from 1965. As well as the unification of the main façade windows through a metal box and the use of the same block slat in the back at the front gate.

Author | Cecilia Reichstul and Clara Reynaldo

Collaborators | Christiane Ribeiro, Elisa Vaz, Giovanna Klestoff and Paula Saito

Photos | Fran Parente

Location | São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Project | 2017

Work | 2017/2019