Project: São Paulo House Renovation
Architecture: Alexandre Dal Fabbro
Construction: Lammart
Manager: Nathalia Coelho
Collaborator: Mayara Marques, Ana Luísa Abreu
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Area: 350 m2
Year: 2023
Photo Credits: Fran Parente
Owner/family profile (information provided in your office briefing at the time of project development)
Family. Couple with two children. They wanted a house that brought the family together mainly around the indoor and outdoor dining areas. Another important aspect is that they wanted a lot of garden and that this garden could be seen from inside the house.
Is it construction, renovation or interior design renovation? If it was a renovation, what was the internal distribution of the property like afterwards?
Total renovation. House with 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs. Upstairs there is a terrace with a vegetable garden and orchard. Downstairs we have a garage for 4 cars, laundry, integrated kitchen with dining, pantry, toilet, large living room, office, sewing studio, two external bathrooms and a large balcony with gourmet kitchen.
What is the inspiration and conception of the project?
Make the most of the outdoor area, which is why I created large openings in the house. I wanted the house to be more harmonious, and for the volume to be discreet in order to highlight the vegetation. The external architecture should be more neutral to leave the garden as the protagonist.
Is there a starting point that you consider to be the key to the project?
Yes, creating openings and cutting the visible roof and raising the external facade to hide the roof. Another important aspect was the creation of the balcony that did not exist.
Did you have any difficulties? What were the solutions found?
Many, working with the existing structure was not easy:
• The living room ceiling was a big challenge as we had to minimize the different ceiling heights due to the low level of the bathrooms and structure of the house. Since making the ceiling continuous was not a possibility, as the ceiling would be too low.
• Integrate the kitchen with the dining room as there was a structural masonry wall there. We had to make metal reinforcement to make integration possible.
• Make the terrace without visible pillars with a free space to the garden. We overcome a gap of 9.70m.
What factors were analyzed when choosing covering materials? What materials stand out? Are there any ecological or technological materials that deserve to be detailed?
Terracor texture, wood in the joinery, neobamboo wood flooring, and terrazzo in the bathrooms. In the external area, the stone wall with mass and the gourmet island in rustic granite.
Description of each environment (concept, materials used, etc.)
• Kitchen/Dining: Kitchen integrated with dining for better use and integration of residents in their daily lives. In terms of materiality, we use Carrara marble countertops, ivorywood cabinets, engineered wood flooring. Clients always wanted a functional kitchen, but one that was beautiful to display.
• Bedrooms: Bedrooms themselves have very similar sizes and layouts, so the idea was to explore different headboards, fabrics, side tables and other loose pieces. In terms of materiality, we maintained and treated the original parquet flooring, on the walls natural linen that continues in some details of the carpentry.
• Room: Large room, which served different uses, always prioritizing the integration of residents. In terms of material, engineered wooden flooring, light and neutral fabrics with a hint of tones in decorative objects and the fabric of the gaming chair.
• Garden: In addition to an impressive garden, create contemplative places, such as hammocks, swings and firepits. On the walls we continued with the terracor texture and on the floor, together with the grass, we continued with asymmetrical steps in rustic granite.
• Balcony: Following the materiality of the external locations, we continued with the terracor texture and rustic granite floor, creating a super functional vegetable garden and orchard, but which goes hand in hand with the tones of the house.
