Casa Float 住宅丨巴西丨Spirale Arquitetura

Architects:Spirale Arquitetura

Area:675m²

Year:2021

Photographs:Larissa Sad

Manufacturers:Rewood

Lead Architect :Catharina Macedo

Country:Brazil

Text description provided by the architects. The Float House was designed to a point of the land with an exuberant view of the cerrado sunset in the Federal District. The owners had just returned from New Zealand, where they were influenced by light, clean and agile building systems; in addition, they would like to live in an ecologically and correct space that refers to their origins and their culture, that they are so proud of. The entire project was designed to create restorative environments, offering a biophilic experience related to living in the cerrado, with affective elements of the Minas Gerais culture, low environmental impact, energy efficiency, and a modular construction system.

Therefore, we designed a residence composed of two “sister” buildings: a house and a small studio that rest and adapt to the topography of the land. The architectural design of the main house is symmetrical, it has 2 blocks (social and intimate) connected by the kitchen, the heart of the house, which has double height and zenith lighting.

The bedroom block was oriented to capture the prevailing winds and the social block aimed at contemplating the cerrado. In this context, the challenge was to reconcile the view to the west with the reduction of thermal load necessary in this bioclimatic zone. Thus, large balconies were proposed to guarantee the shading of the internal spaces in the hottest periods of the afternoon. In addition, all facades are protected from the sun and rain by large eaves and covered with brick.

The solution was Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam) as the dominant structural system, as it allows a physically and visually light construction, with low environmental impact, prefabricated remotely and assembled on site, ensuring a clean construction with reduced waste. To increase the efficiency and consequent cost reduction of this system, spaces were created in 5mx5m modules, stabilized by a rigid module (which holds the water tank) and light coverage of thermoacoustic sandwich tiles.

The main building has 3 independent pitches, the central one being higher and overlapping the two side pitches. This arrangement generates tall windows with movable shutters that allow access to diffused natural light (less thermal component than direct light) and hot air out. The roofs have gutters for collecting rainwater (stored underground and pumped to another upper box) and favorable orientation for future installation of photovoltaic panels. After being processed and treated, the sewage of water from toilet bowls, showers and sinks is destined for gravity irrigation of the vegetable garden cultivated on the ground.

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