PA House

The project is a 600m2 house in Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. The project was conceived on the first visit to the site: “Two perpendicular prismatic volumes in concrete, glass and steel, in the middle of city’s Atlantic Forest reserve”, Guilherme Torres.



One of the main points of the project was to create wide open spaces, surrounded by the native lush green and at the same time create an intimate atmosphere. To achieve this effect, the house has several “skins” that undress as the architecture unfolds.



On the ground floor, a large wall of “cobogos” – prefabricated concrete partition elements, typical of contemporary Brazilian architecture – create a first texture that, mixed with the landscape composed only of Texas Grass, signed by Alex Hanazaki landscape architect, reveals the depth of the Project, without showing exactly what has behind it. A sensual play of light and shadows. Likewise, the upper block hides all the windows under the protection of a wooden brise.

The program, developed for a couple with their children, was created establishing two living areas, one wing serves as a formal lounge and the other dedicated to the family, which has access to the garage. This first architecture element emerges from the structure designed by the architect in order to evidence marks of the wood used in the forms that shaped the concrete walls of the house. A detail that is transforms it effect according to the incidence of light on the purposely heterogeneous and rough surfaces of the concrete, as if this wood had turned into stone.

This almost wabi sabi effect (the beauty of imperfection, according to Japanese philosophy) was explored in the choice of all materials: in the marbles of the floors and in the woods of the walls and linings. The most important thing was to bring all the natural elements to a brutalistic essence, creating a welcoming feeling that perfectly matches the climate of the city, particularly cold in relation to the Brazilian tropical climate.

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