This project treads the fine line between the concepts of social and private, and interprets the available terrain as if it were an integral part of the building. The architecture draws no precise boundaries between interior and exterior, a principle respected by Castro in every detail: most of the windows run from floor to ceiling; the bedrooms in the sleeping zone are screened by large wooden panels, hinged in the middle to permit a glimpse of the city in the distance; the ground-floor living room overlooks the garden through four sliding windows; and the kitchen, with no doors/windows, is entirely open on the exterior, turning the garden into another room of the house.
The catalyst for the design was the superimposition of two perpendicular volumes, two entities that Castro has interpreted as autonomous – the living spaces are on the ground floor while the more private and reserved sleeping ones are lined up on the first floor.
Planalto House, São Paulo, Brazil
Architect, construction supervision, landscape design:
Flavio Castro
Design team: Jennifer Andrade and Claudia Reis
Structural and plant engineering: Edatec
Client: Marcos and Eliana Stuart
Built area: 800 square metres (gross)
Design phase: 2012
Construction phase: 2012 – 2013