Project: Light Home
Architects: Studio Guilherme Torres
Lead Architect : Guilherme Torres
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Area: 1226 m²
Year: 2020
Photo credits: Denilson Machado – MCA Estúdio
Text by Studio Guilherme Torres
In 2016, the clients hired the Studio to develop an interior design for an apartment acquired while still in the plan. A few months passed and afterwards, the family grew. With the development of the project the space proved to be far below the expectations of what was needed, and the opportunity to buy a house arose.
The building, possibly from the late 1950s, although it was located in a central region of the city, it was built in a leafy neighborhood, presented a mix of styles, arising from successive extensions and renovations, but had the ideal area. Then an ambitious renovation project began, which reconfigured all spaces and brought construction tocontemporaneity.
Some points of distribution of the house, named Light Home were maintained as a garage and services at the front, as well as the stair position. Others have been completely reconfigured as the living room, which is now completely open to the back of the site, where the pool and lounge area have been repositioned. During the initial demolition phase, it was found that many structures were precarious, which ended up generating a completely new structural project, as well as all the other facilities, which were redone from scratch.
A request from the owner was that the house must be extremely bright, with as many openings as possible and with materials that reflect natural light. For this, the use of minimalist aluminum and glass frames, white marble Paraná was explored throughout the ground floor, and some walls in raw travertine, a material chosen for the entire external area. Pivoting doors and walls that hide openings and cabinets were covered in Accoya, a kind of extremely resistant Scandinavian pine and that has a naturally grayish hue.
Most important of all, the house ended up with a rooftop that was completely destined as a space for the three children. The children’s furniture that includes, in addition to cabinets, a drying rack with a swimming pool, stage, climbing walls, running track, “shop” and “kitchen” was all developed by the architects, in partnership with the client. The result? The fun never ends!
