Excerpt: Casa Aroeira by FGMF Arquitetos is designed as a linear, two-story residence that embraces the steep slope of its site to maximize views and access. The design highlights structure as form, using exposed concrete pillars and gables to define space and support the upper level. Natural materials and open glass façades integrate the home with its surroundings, emphasizing simplicity, landscape, and structural clarity.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] The project for Casa Aroeira is based on the observation of the characteristics of the sloping lot, on the corner of a block within a gated community in the interior of São Paulo and facing a magnificent view for the best implementation of the residence on the lot. Due to the steep slope of the lot, the house is located on its upper portion, providing the best views and makes use of the corner to allow level access for pedestrians via the side street while cars access the garage via the lower street.
The extensive program of over 1000 m2 is laid out on two floors in a linear fashion, with the ground floor primarily for social and service areas – also including two guest bedrooms – and the upper floor basically reserved for the private area of the residence. All the main rooms of the house face the main view of the lot, the pool and the neighboring farm.
The project’s premise is quite simple and is based on the structural design. In this project, the structure is the house, almost composed of an overlapping of pillars, beams and slabs. A sequence of round pillars made of exposed concrete form porticos with a wall also made of concrete and a sequence of gables made of the same material, approximately 4 m high, which support the upper floor, hang the floor slab on this floor and separate the main suites of the house.
This set of pillars and gables is the main element visible from afar and up close and covers the social level of the house, closed only by sliding glass panels, which create separations between the living room and the balconies. Standing out from the sloping terrain, the external floors are formed by staggered horizontal planes that form the access, the water mirror, the balconies and external terraces, as well as relating to the semi-suspended volume of the house’s large swimming pool.
The service areas are located at the back of the house, protected from the view and with due privacy guaranteed.
From a construction and finishing point of view, we sought to work with materials in their natural state, such as a lot of glass in the enclosures, exposed concrete in the structure, stone and wood in the internal and external floors and in the pool, in order to create an element that is both aesthetically striking and chromatically neutral, where what stands out is the natural landscape outside.
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