Location: São Paulo | Brazil
Area: 600 m2 | 6460 sq. ft
Client: withheld
Light Designer: Studio Iluz
Carpentry: Arali
Landscape: Juliana Freitas
Architects: Cesar Coppola and Daniela Coppola
Team: Ana Maria Florio
Photo Credits: Fran Parente
Press Distribution: v2com
About Coletivo Arquitetos
Cesar Coppola and Daniela Coppola started their architectural firm in 2000, shortly after graduating in Architecture and Urbanism at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo.
Hungry for knowledge and seeking professional development, Cesar went to Europe to study contemporary architecture, while Daniela continued her education in Brasil and USA, accomplishing a Master in Architecture from the University of Florida as well as the Design Honor Award and Research Prize for Original Research and Academic Writing.
They founded Coletivo Arquitetos, a firm focused on partnership and collaboration in pursuit of excellence in architecture. The work of Coletivo Arquitetos is defined by a thoughtful creative approach grounded in art and human experience that places value on formal simplicity. Their comprehensive design dialogues with all scales spanning architecture, interior design, and product design to enhance wellbeing and well living.
They earned national and international design awards and have their projects published all over the world.
With a privileged view of Parque do Povo, the GAR apartment is located in a building on the banks of the Pinheiros River, in the city of São Paulo.
The challenge facing the architects – Coletivo Arquitetos’ Cesar Coppola and Daniela Coppola – was how to transform the apartment’s fragmented spaces into a dynamic home for a family passionate about arts and good living. Their response was to rethink the typology of the apartment in order to integrate the spaces and to render them fluid.
The principal idea was to value the elements built in pure forms through the creation of empty spaces. The masonry around the building’s vertical circulation was demolished. From the void created around this immutable core, now evidenced as a solid covered in white marble, accesses to the social, intimate, and service sectors were articulated, creating a pleasant route where part of the family’s art collection, including pieces by Adriana Varejão, Lucas Arruda, Luíz Zerbini, Janaína Tshape, and more, can be fully appreciated.
In the social area, the layout was placed in the center of the space. The clean, white ceiling lights up, and slatted wood panels line the walls below the height of the beams to create a continuous element that mimics the openings. Minimalist frames were used to expand the view of the park, and a green transition area was created on the balcony to draw nature into the built space.
In the architects’ choice of materials, the natural prevailed. Calacata marble was used in the central box, with floors of Persian limestone. American oak defines the panels and furniture, the latter designed by the architects themselves. Additional material selections include copper detailing and green quartzite selected for the wash basin specifically designed for the project.
