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Grid House

Grid House

 

The site with its area of 22 alqueire (1 alqueire = 2.42 hectares in Sao Paulo), is comprised within an area of only  65,000 m2 that is not covered by lush virgin forest providing permanent protection. In this area, with a rather hilly topography, with outcrops of large rocks surrounded by auracaria pines, a small valley protected from the winds and close to the forest was selected. This location lies at the intersection of the natural footpaths: it is the location where the footpath leading to the site is directed and via which access is gained to the track that enters the forest and to the highest section of the area that unveils an impressive view.

Very important questions dictated the design of the project: the requirement for a single storey house with a view to establishing a direct relationship with the ground and nature, hence the need to maintain privacy between family members, although the principal plan of the residence must be that of a single structure. Another factor that was considered was the high humidity of the region, which would suggest a house elevated from the ground.

A structural wooden grid, with modules measuring 5.5 x 5.5 x 3 m is suspended on this nucleus of means of access connecting the existing paths and creating new ones. Moreover, the bridge structure is crossed in three ways: above (by the roof garden which is a continuation of the land, below (through a garden with a water mirror and natural stones), and through the middle of the house (via a covered outside walkway). This grid has modules that are now occupied by enclosed area, which are now totally empty, enabling trees in the lower garden to cross the structure.

The plan contained in the grid consists of a nucleus with service and social areas, a guestroom and the owner’s apartment, and three isolated modules containing two rooms for the children. Between them, empty modules highlight the structural continuity and enhance the spaces through which the garden is observed. This interplay of full and empty spaces allows a fragmented organization of the plan so as to respect the privacy of the users, whilst at the same time enabling the whole to be regarded as a cohesive unit.

Suspended above the valley and buried in the hills, the house merges into the land and the land into the house to form a new landscape. The built space, both interior and exterior, enables the rocks and garden on the grid, the virgin forest, the surrounding trees and the rock supports, where the house descends, to be seen.

Steel beams
The wooden grid is supported by an assembly of concrete columns and is set in the hillside in two cross members, almost as if sprouting from the ground. At this point of contact the land is surrounded by large gravity walls constructed from rocks removed from the locality. To avoid an excessive number of columns in the 2000 m2 projection of the structure, and to provide more open views of the lower garden, an attempt was made to use large beams each supporting two modules constructed of weathering steel, each 11 meters long. These beams, together with the landscape, form an important entity of the work.

On the highest hill, from which the most generous view of the mountainous horizon is obtained, was designed the leisure complex, divided into two blocks with the same modular structure as the main building. The pavilion is supported on metal beams of weathering steel in the form of a wing, which provides a 100% balance in the space provided, on the edges of the hillside. Between the two leisure blocks a courtyard invites the residents to participate in outside activities. The leisure complex and the residential block, which have the same structural grid, reveal opposing situations relating to the occupation of the land – both in the valley and on the hillside the module is capable of communicating clearly with the topography.

Another three service buildings, with garages, a house for the housekeeper, employee rooms, changing rooms, store rooms, etc., are pavilion type structures having the same 5.5 x 5.5 m module, but with a stone structure. Large parallel vertical walls of stone are fixed in the ground and suspend the paving stones. Whilst the wooden structures are light and ethereal, these blocks have a different function in that they clearly support the heavy vertical walls on the ground.

Three scales of landscape intervention were defined. The proposal is to reconstitute the margins of the forest and create a transition between the open field and the forest through the use of native plant species compatible with the region. At the same time, in the rest of the open area, a park development is created with paths crossing it and places of rest at the main points of visual interest. Finally, in places close to the buildings, there is a pre-architectural garden. On the roof, which is a continuation of the land, there is a linear water mirror which avoids the use of a railing and relates to the large body of water located in the lower garden surrounding the largest rock that exists in the locality.

by Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz - FGMF Architects
 
Supplementary technical sheet
Landscaping: CAP Paisagismo – Sidney Linhares and Fernando Chacel
Lighting: Studio IX – Guinter Parschalk
Interior design: Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz Architects
Floor panels (art): Fábio Flaks
Framework and wooden decks: Esquadrias Hitalianas
Glazing: Ambar Vidros - Alpha Vidros
Electrics: Juveniel Reis
Joinery: Esquadrias Hitalianas e Marcenaria Rutra
Hydraulic Tiles: Casa Franceza
Wooden flooring: Parquet SP
Landscaping fittings and installations: Viverde