Located in the city of Curitiba, in southern Brazil, the Figueiras House is the result of the balanced play between hefty volumes and open green spaces, integrated with the views of the surrounding wooded areas and guaranteeing the best natural lighting and ventilation.
The clients, a young couple from São Paulo, trusted the architect with the creative freedom to develop a project that made the best use of the terrain with a generous back garden while keeping their privacy from the street view.
From the street, we can see two contrasting overlapping volumes of natural stone on the ground-floor and cast concrete on the second, a few openings and hollow elements reveal just a little of the house interior.
A stone pathway guides the visitor to the front door, camouflaged in the timber slat wall. As you enter the house the interior opens itself in a fluid and luminous space that dialogs with the back garden through large sliding glass panels that, when opened, integrate physically with the garden deck.
The house layout arrangement reflects the laid-back and gregarious lifestyle of its inhabitants, which are constantly receiving guests and hosting large groups of friends and family.On the left side of the ground floor is the social area and to the right, isolated from the rest, is the guest room and service area (the last two have and independently access to the garden). The social area is totally integrated, composed of a living room, dining room, kitchen, and home theater room. A piece of 7-meter multi-purpose furniture (dinner table, kitchen countertop/cabinet) wasdesigned to serve as a functional support and a binding element between the rooms.
Vibrant punctual primary colors contrast with the concrete, stone and black and white masonry surfaces. The furniture is a mix of contemporary Brazilian design and pieces designed by the architect.
The upper-floor overhangs slightly towards the front yard and explores the plasticity of the cast-in-place concrete producing creases that extend to the windows that frame interesting views and illuminates the corridor that gives access to the bedrooms. The external bedroom walls are covered, like the entrance panel, by a timber slat wall made of certified tropical wood that forms big chamfers in both extremities while keeping the slats aligned. The bedrooms, with large windows facing north (which receives more sunlight in the southern hemisphere), enjoy a beautiful view of an environmentally protected wooded area. The master bedroom has access to a large green roof that extends itself close to the woods, reinforcing the dialogue between the house and the nature of the surroundings.
