Covaks House
The design of this house, located in São José dos Campos, SP, was commissioned by an elderly couple, with 87 and 79, who were not content to live in an apartment.
The couple is formed by an artist and a renowned designer retired aircraft. Because they was habited, in the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), a house designed by Oscar Niemeyer, they wanted to live again in a home with modern architecture, where spaces were integrated, illuminated by glass walls and well ventilated.
The house is implanted on a corner lot with an area of 625 m2 and a total slope of 5 meters. The lower part of the plot, south facing, is facing the green area of the condominium, providing the best view of the terrain. To get a good insolation in all environments, it was set to party a central outdoor patio that organizes every program of the house.
The entrance of the house happens through the top part of the land, the central courtyard and is marked by a slab of concrete, 10 cm thick and a ceiling height of 2.30 m, which covers the garage, the entrance and the kitchen . This slab enters underneath slab panel which covers the other rooms of the house, forming a large horizontal opening, adjacent to the room ceiling, providing optimal lighting and ventilation to the environment. The bathrooms are also illuminated and ventilated through the opening formed by the height difference of the slabs.
Because of the age of the residents, there was a need the house is one-story and be prepared for people with reduced mobility. This quota is therefore all the basic program of the house: living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, bathroom and three bedrooms (including a couple's suite). In the basement of the living room, taking advantage of the sloping ground, is the studio of the artist, unique environment that is not on the ground level.
We tried to, to design the composition of an economy elements. After construction of the structure, some missing to complete the house. For the structure also sought to simple solutions without unnecessary effort: exposed concrete pillars support the block of rooms, giving lightness to the main facade; for the rest of the house was chosen by a conventional structure of pillars, beams and sealing walls. metal tiles make the cover.
The exposed concrete becomes very present in the house interior composition: the pillars, the slab, the slab panel and concrete furniture, which are interspersed joinery sized. Full composition, the aluminum frames in gray and red hydraulic tile floor that runs through all the rooms of the house. External floors are Portuguese stone.
For the volumes of the house tried to a simple, elementary form, which gives the great intensity formal property and gives it prominence, by contrast, in the midst of an architecture of many roofs and volumes that characterizes most of the condominium homes. The glass walls provide the desired transparency and a large garden lawn without walls, completely open to the street, show the generosity of residents.
Project:
Kovacs House
Author (s):
Arch. Jorge Pessoa
Arch. Catherine Otondo
Arch. Marina Grinover
Responsible architect:
Arch. Jorge Pessoa
Collaborator:
Arch. Octavio Vaz Kovacs
Team:
Fernando Tulio;
Florencia Testa
Juliana Barsi;
Livia Marquez;
Luisa Fecchio
Matheus Tonelli;
Patricia Mieko;
Tania Helou;
Tiago Testa
Photos:
Pedro Vannucchi