Arapiraca

The integration with its context – a neighborhood of old houses, close to bars and restaurants – was the main objective of Triptyque’s architects, in order to make a natural dialogue between the 8,000 sqm volume of construction and its relief.

  The architects decided to split the complex into eight randomly distributed blocks, each one with an independent access, whose the position guarantees the best view and optimizes the ventilation and the natural luminosity. A ninth block shelters the elevators, the shafts and the stairs, it concentrates the exits of the metallic footbridges: place of circulation and socialization between the inhabitants. The result is a configuration of apartments allowing for privacy equal to independent houses. With generous terraces and a wide ceiling-height, the units varies from studio to triplex and can have different layouts. The shared area in the upper floors and particulary the walkways, are bathed in sunlight and ventilated by the wind.

The historical reference also appears in ceramics, as a mention to the Portuguese, the first immigrants who occupied the region. The blue and white azulejos, a tribute to the artist Athos Bulcão, cover all the internal facades. Smooth and reflective, they give life to the facades while illuminating the center of the ground. At the building’s entrances, the porosity fades the limit between the ground and the sidewalk creating a blurred boundary between the public and the private, and thus revealing the generosity of the project as a whole.

Arapiraca, São Paulo, Brazil
Program: housing
Architect: Triptyque
Design team: Carol Bueno, Greg Bousquet, Gui Sibaud, Olivier Raffaelli (partners); Luiz Trindade (general manager); Bianca Coelho e Beatriz Hipólito (projects manager); Felipe Alves (visual comunication); Marcella Verardo, Murillo Fantinatti, Pedro de Mattos, André Mathias, Vinicius Capela (architects)
Structural engineering: Gama Z
Installation: Tesis.      
Air conditioning: Willem Sheepmaker & Assoc.
Lighting: Estudio Carlos Fortes
Waterproofing: PROASSP
Construction: Lock Engenharia
Area: 8,000 sqm
Completion: 2016