House E N

The House E+N was designed for a couple of retired southern Brazilian (gaúchos), who dreamed of leaving an apartment, to live in a house with garden with enough space to make a vegetable plot.

The design is basically a white parallelepiped of 12x14,5m that opens organically creating spaces between interior and exterior, through patios, terraces, connections, and the open garage. This white element is placed on a sloping terrain, with a black wall that contacts the slope.

The project is divided into 3 well-defined areas: service area (kitchen and laundry), social area (living and dining room), and intimate area (bedrooms and bathrooms). The kitchen area is integrated with the living room, with a kitchen island appearing as the main element. An open and flexible layout was proposed, with few corridors, and with a compacted and economical design, grouping facilities (water and electricity).

It was designed with various bioclimatic strategies. The spaces of prolonged use were placed on the north façade (best solar orientation in Brazil), to increase the incidence of solar radiation during the winter period. In the summer time solar radiation is quite aggressive, so a large beam was designed, on the terrace with an orientation to the north, to protect the living room from the solar radiation. The roof was built with solid floor slab “in situ”, finished with sandwich aluminum elements (aluminum + thermal insulation), all PVC frames have double glazing and the floor slab is ventilated, helping to avoid possible humidity that may come from the ground, and increasing thermal insulation.

For the summer, cross ventilation was prioritized, with large windows facing north and south (living/dining room), and on the east façade, the use of oscillating windows, with 100% opening during summer and in the winter gives the possibility to use hygienic ventilation.

All the house has been designed for better energy savings by illuminating the interior spaces through the natural lighting that comes from the large openings and the zenithal window in the hallway of the rooms, and also, all lamps are LED. The hollow elements located in two of the facades, filter the views and help to improve privacy, casting shadows, protecting these facades from solar radiation, and allowing ventilation in these semi-interior spaces.

The garden on the back has been designed with 3 different levels, due to the slope of the terrain in the transversal direction. These platforms lead to a basement, at the bottom of the house, where the rainwater deposit is located, which reuse rain water for irrigation and toilets. The solar heating pipes for water are located on the roof, also the hot water storage reservoir, the drinking water tank, and the return of rainwater. The whole house runs on electricity, without the use of gas.