The refurbishment of this three bedroom apartment located in the “model superquadra” in Brasília*, has completely reconfigured the existing plan. Although the internal organization of the was still original, most of the materials had already been changed ordeconfigured, except by the original mechanichal metal blinds that were restored and incorporated to the new project.
The main objective was to replace some of the walls and partitions by translucent elements and to directly connect the new dining room, the kitchen and the main bedroom´s private bath to the building´s naturally ventilated facade. This “in between” space was originally occupied by service rooms that were either eliminated or “shrunk” to the minimum in the new layout. The demolition of the existing walls in the central “core” of the apartment has revealed parts of the original concrete structure that was left exposed. The space between the inverted beam and the “porous” elements of the ventilated facade was transformed into a linear Garden. Besides that, two of the existing bedrooms were reduced to make more space to the new central dining room.
The original solid wooden floors had already been removed some years before. Therefore, we have proposed to refer to it by using a new solid wooden floor with different pattern and dimensions from the original one, in order to signal the intervention. We also used simple materials such as 15x15cm white tiles and brazilian natural stones (normally grey granite and white marbles), which are some of the materials that were normally used in Brasília´s architecture from the 60´s and 70´s.We have useda granite called “Branco São Paulo” in part of the kitchen floor, bathroom floors besides kitchen and bathroom countertops. It was used with a type of “lightly flamed” and matte finish. The plywood used in the fixed furniture of the bathrooms was left with its natural finish, while industrialized mdf that was applied to most of the woodwork was used with the same matte white finish.
The rug in the living room was designed by architect and designer Rodrigo Ohtake for the brazilian brand Punto e Filo in 2017. The armchairs (annette chairs) were designed by brazilian designer Jorge Zalszupin in the 60´s. The chairs and stools at the dining room/kitchen were designed by the brazilan brand Cremme in 2016. The master bedroom bed came from the owner´s previous home.The painting on the wall was created by VeridianaLeite, an artist from Rio de Janeiro.
*The “model superquadra” in Brasília, one of the first “superquadra” (superblock) neighborhoods to be built in the city, was finished in 1962 and it is listed (protected) by the local government. The original landscape design of the superquadra was designed by Burle Marx and Lucio Costa himself (the architect that won the competition for the city of Brasília) worked on the urban design for this particular superblock. All the residential buildings were designed by architects celo Campello and Sérgio Rocha.
