Conclusion Year: 2012
Built Area: 980 m²
Location: Parana, Brazil
Photography: Denilson Machado – Mca Studio
About Studio Guilherme Torres
Founded in 2001, Studio Guilherme Torres develops projects in the most diverse areas, from architecture to design. This company is personified in the figure of its founder, a perfectionist. On his left arm, a great tattoo says, through the words extracted from a Daft Punk’s song, “work it, harder, better, faster, make it over”. This unofficial motto describes your ethics and commitment to quality which is readily apparent in your work.
Minimal details and palettes of rich but reserved materials that characterize his work are consistently applied in single-family homes, interior projects, and retail projects Balancing the rigorous aesthetics of architecture, a certain playful lightness can be found in the interior design of your projects.
The crisp shapes and subtle surfaces provide a suitably quiet backdrop to the lively furniture inside, while carefully planned spaces benefit from astute attention to natural light. Suspended volumes and few but notable lines are its trademarks that seek, in his projects, to investigate the limits of materials.
Architect Guilherme Torres is based in São Paulo and has ideas that unite modernity with tradition. Inspired by his own house (designed by him), he started with a checkered wooden design, a type of brise soleil called muxarabi, a classic element of oriental architecture assimilated by the Portuguese, who brought it to Brazil. This element, of high aesthetic power, was adapted for this residence in the interior of the south of the country, and acts as a wooden “curtain” promoting air circulation, gently filtering the light and also serving as a protection element.
Located in Paraná, the impetus to design a new way of living is born.
With 980m², BT House was conceived for a couple of clients with two children, with the aim of developing the way that all environments become functional.
At first glance, one of the great attractions of BT House is its tones, textures, and materiality displayed on the façade. There is no paint that delivers harmony like the nature of the materials used in the project. The strong natural contrast between the wood and the rawness of the concrete are the protagonists of this work.
“When I saw the land, with a very slight slope, flanked by other houses, I imagined this large panel, to ensure the privacy of both residents and neighbors”, says the architect. Monumental, the house is projected into the landscape like a large rectangular monolith, with two large masonry blocks that oppose the upper concrete volume. A few pillars, huge spans, and strategic walls that form delicate gardens form the refuge of this young family with two small children.
The program takes place on two levels, which can be divided into social and intimate floors.
On the ground floor, we can highlight the social floor, where the narrative of the house is composed through the accesses, with the main entrance, circulations, and garage.
A large living room embraces the living area, with a generous kitchen for guests who have a passion for cooking.
On the ground floor there is also the leisure area, with a playroom for children, barbecue, swimming pool and sauna, being a real space to relax, relax and receive friends and family;
On the first floor, given as an intimate area, there are four suites with free views of the land, in addition to containing a TV room.
BT House is fully integrated and open to the outside areas of the house. The use of wood, chosen to cover the entire social area and the edges of the pool, creates a plan that frames the green landscape in the background and highlights the materiality used throughout the interior of the pool. The stone used in the pool was a Hijau volcanic line.
The interiors follow a jovial and Brazilian style, combining the design of Guilherme Torres (sofas and tables are his own) with the great masters of Brazilian design, such as furniture by Sérgio Rodrigues and Carlos Motta. The overlap with international design balances Tom Dixon’s pieces with Iranian rugs, mined by the architect. The garden designed by Alex Hanazaki gave the house an almost ethereal air, given the movement of the Texas grasses.
