The Aruá building was designed from a composition of four different blocks joined by a common vertical circulation. The work is a kind of puzzle of four buildings with different floor plans and heights merged into one.
The union of these volumes forms an upward spiral, since each block has a higher floor than the previous one. This movement inspired the building's name, which means snail in Tupi. The strategy of each volume having a different height allowed for a series of roofs with balconies and gardens on a level, like backyards, unlike the classic access to the open area only through a second floor of the building. Each of the blocks received a different finishing treatment to make clear the difference in plan and occupation in each of the volumes that make up the building.
The building has many references to good Brazilian modernist architecture. The entrance hall is all open under exposed concrete pilotis; the landscaping design is very tropical; there is a large art panel made with hydraulic tiles by the artist João Nitsche; the apartment openings have shutters that run along the outside and access to the building is via an exposed concrete portico that makes the transition between public and private and also serves as a bench on the sidewalk.
The final volumetry of the project was a concern for the architects from the outset, as the legislation that involved the relationship between land area, built-up area, occupancy requirements and gauge forced them to achieve a somewhat robust and compact result. In this sense, the use of varying volumes also allowed for a plastic approach in the implementation of these volumes, reinforced by the careful façades and entrance, and especially in the smaller volume, which is entirely covered in synthetic decking. The plastic result of the ensemble seeks to minimize the impact of the new construction and establish a dialogue with the urban morphology of the streets, making the building more friendly to pedestrians and the rest of the urban fabric.
View Original