Carapicuiba house by Angelo Bucci and Alvaro Puntoni
Brazilian architects Angelo Bucci and Alvaro Puntoni designed the Carapicuiba house in Carapicuíba, Brazil.
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Carapicuiba house by Angelo Bucci and Alvaro Puntoni
Geographic conditions
The most remarkable feature of the site where the house is located is its depression, in topographical terms. From the street, we cannot clearly see its ground level because the ground surface falls abruptly into a little valley and woods: a stage 6 m below.Programmatic requirements
The program joins two different purposes: a house and an office, it is a place to both live and work. Although these two functions share the same space, it is as separate as possible.Project proposition
The different levels offered by the site were utilized to arrange the two main programs.
The street level was kept free of any enclosed space, it is a kind of “pilotis” with two different areas: the first one is on the ground, very close to the street, and the other one is aerial, as a roof terrace over the building. A bridge, made of steel, connects these two areas. The only entrance to the building is the bridge with its steel grid floor that leads over the open space: downstairs to the house or upstairs to the office.The house is divided into two levels, both below the street level. Its spaces are integrated with the woods, valley, gardens, and pool located at the ground level. The house incorporates the outside nature indoors: a sliding glass door opens the living room into the terrace,creating one large space. The bedroom and the patios can also be integrated at the lower level.
From the street level, the office is located upstairs. Its dimensions, 3 m wide and 25 m long, making it look like a tube open at both extremities. Therefore, the windows offer new views: more landscape than patios, and more panoramic than an intimate space.
The “tube” only rests over two columns. Reinforced concrete supports the whole building. Besides its materials, concrete and glass, this house is essentially designed based on the site’s geography and landscape. So few elements mean more concentration on the required work during its construction process. It makes it easier to control the budget and it help us focus on the necessary steps to build the house.
Architects: Angelo Bucci and Alvaro Puntoni
Photography by Nelson Kon
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Joe on 24 Apr 2011 at 5:26 pm #
Cool–much better than some recent entries.
Great on 24 Apr 2011 at 7:26 pm #
The quality of construction is a little rough for my taste — but beautiful spaces nevertheless. I love the light and the airiness.
andrew on 25 Apr 2011 at 2:03 am #
only two poles, haha this one really levitates, so cool
hamilton on 25 Apr 2011 at 6:30 am #
I like this one. I think it will look even better with a little age and personalization.
Connie on 25 Apr 2011 at 7:37 am #
That’s a real cool house with the exception of the kitchen. A sink opposite of the cooktop, really?
hugo on 25 Apr 2011 at 7:56 am #
i love the look ….really crisp and beautiful -but it’s at least 50% corridors/walkways.
the kitchen has a beautiful outlook but not great for entertaining… and not a very functional kitchen as others have pointed out.
David on 25 Apr 2011 at 10:30 am #
Ingenious design!
Rube on 26 Apr 2011 at 3:28 am #
I love the controst between the crisp and refined and the bit more raw elemental parts. I agree its going to age well.
shane on 26 Apr 2011 at 9:12 am #
Must be nice to be able to construct somewhere with apparently low safety code requirements.
goys on 29 Apr 2011 at 7:57 am #
just brilliant
AP on 29 Apr 2011 at 11:00 am #
Wow…being a ‘structural person,’ and even more so, the Structures Instructor at a top ranked school of Architecture – if a student of mine came to me with this, I think I would tell them to get out of my office.
The mid level is well supported in that it is hung off of the overarching beams at the top of the site walls, but that highest box. Wow. Just, wow. I recognize the fact that the steel staircase adds an element of lateral stability to it, but it doesn’t help to support anything.
Assuming a building density of 20-30 lb/ft³, (concrete weighs 150 lb/ft³ and the plan is relatively uncluttered), thats still a lot of load on two meager columns of, what looks to be, 18″ diameter at maximum.
Looking closer at the drawings, the upper block looks to be, maybe 10′W x 12′H x 70′L = 8400 cu.ft. x 30pcf = 252,000 lbs / 2 columns = 126,000 lbs/column / 255 sq.in/column = almost 500 psi in those columns. And thats just from the floating box – not the other floorplates that they help to support. I hope they have significant steel in them to resist buckling or lateral blow out…
Some really nice spaces though, nonetheless. This project could continue to become more and more beautiful each year as it proceeds to weather more.
ariana roberts on 30 Apr 2011 at 2:18 pm #
there’s something hypnotic about this design… it really does seem to stand on its own and that makes it hard to miss