Botucatu House in Brazil by FGMF Arquitetos

ByJon Dykstra Houses

A contemporary home with clear internal and external relationships.

Location: Botucatu, SP – Brazil
Type of Construction: Residential
Site Area: 1086, 20m
Building Area: 522, 22m
Project Completion: 2014
Architect Studio: FGMF (Forte, Gimenes e Marcondes Ferraz Arquitetos)
Authors: Fernando Forte, Lourenco Gimenes, Rodrigo Marcondes Ferraz
Coordinators: Marilia Caetano, Sonia Gouveia
Architects: Gabriel Mota, Thyene Schmidt, Bruno Araujo, Flavio Faggion, Heloisa Adam, Juiana Nohara, Monica Harumi
Interns: Gabriela Santoro, Mirella Fochi
Photographer: Rafaela Netto
Structural Engineer: Edson Bispo Ferreira
Electrical and Plumbing Engineer: Projhel
Artistic Panel: Fabio Flaks
Landscape Designer: Caroline Bueno
Ground Analisys: ReforSonda
Lighting: FGMF com consultoria de Marcos Castilha

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A bright and airy double-height living room with cushioned sofas and a glass-topped center table.
A bright and airy double-height living room with cushioned sofas and a glass-topped center table.
The massive glass wall floods the living room with light and provides a view of the pool and manicured landscape.
The massive glass wall floods the living room with light and provides a view of the pool and manicured landscape.
The concrete blocks and floating cabinets in the kitchen emphasize the modern design.
The concrete blocks and floating cabinets in the kitchen emphasize the modern design.
A modern house design with intermediate outside spaces separates the enclosed spaces.
A modern house design with intermediate outside spaces separates the enclosed spaces.
A view of the turquoise pool from the intermediate spaces, which include the balcony, leisure, and living room areas.
A view of the turquoise pool from the intermediate spaces, which include the balcony, leisure, and living room areas.
A view of the metallic walkways that connect the house to the outside slopes.
A view of the metallic walkways that connect the house to the outside slopes.
A view of the pool lounge area, landscape, and metallic walkways.
A view of the pool lounge area, landscape, and metallic walkways.
The metallic walkways connect the house to compensating slopes that occasionally form a wall, revealing a beautiful garden.
The metallic walkways connect the house to compensating slopes that occasionally form a wall, revealing a beautiful garden.
A house with an umbrella cover structure that houses distinct blocks of the house's sectors while creating a fluid space between the inner and outer.
A house with an umbrella cover structure that houses distinct blocks of the house’s sectors while creating a fluid space between the inner and outer.

The residence seeks to investigate the relationships between internal and external through a series of intermediate spaces. These spaces ask questions about where the balconies, leisure area and traditional spaces such as living room or home theater begin, as well as their limits.

The enclosed spaces are organized in different blocks under a spacious covering of apparent concrete that makes reference to the modern architecture of São Paulo, above all to the work of Vilanova Artigas. These blocks are marked by different coatings to accentuate the sectorization, as well as facilitate the immediate apprehension of the observer that they are places with different functions.

The pervaded space that permeates all environments has either a simple right foot, sometimes double depending on where the visitor is and the relationship between the different internal volumes.

In this rich space of transition is where one imagines that much of the time of the resident will be spent in communion with the built and the surrounding landscaping. Metallic walkways connect the residence to compensating slopes that sometimes make of wall, revealing a superior garden of intimate use at the same time that form a marquise for the social entrance of the house.

The positioning of the roof was calculated in relation to the solar orientation. So in summer it shades the whole house and creates a generous porch connected to the pool and the leisure area. Already in winter, the lower sun passes under the roof and “heats up” the occupied volumes of the residence.

The project starts from a simple concept; A “umbrella” cover and structure that houses distinct blocks of the sectors of the house while a fluid space between the inner and outer is created.

This rather simple concept created interesting spatial and aesthetic complexities during the development of the project, emphasizing the intention of creating new spaces in a re-invention of traditional Brazilian balconies.

By Jon Dykstra · See their LinkedIn.