Klee Urban Habitat Building / Solo Arquitetos
Klee Urban Habitat Building / Solo Arquitetos
Text description provided by the architects. The Mossunguê neighborhood in Curitiba is one of the most remarkable results in the history of real estate development in the city, concentrating the highest sales values per square meter. The region, commercially known as Ecoville, is marked mainly by rapid transit roads, isolated buildings, high walls, and little life in the public space.
Almost as a counterpoint, José Carolo Street is configured as a quiet street, with smaller buildings and a more friendly urban scale. The site, just one block away from the main traffic roads, exemplifies the contrasts of the still-growing neighborhood.
The Klee Urban Habitat consolidates itself as a building of smaller size in relation to the developments in the region. There are only four floors and a mezzanine, housing 23 apartments of different types: one, two, or three bedrooms. On the ground floor, 1-bedroom duplex lofts with access to private gardens generated by the mandatory side setbacks. In the type floors, 2-bedroom apartments that do not have corridors, with the bedrooms positioned on the sides of the plant, allowing for larger rooms and good flexibility for future changes. Along the main facade, 3-bedroom apartments open up to the view of the existing grove in front of the site, thus creating a pleasant backdrop for those residents. Finally, on the top floor, are duplex apartments with two suites, overlooking the whole neighborhood.
Thus, one of the main challenges was the characterization of the volume of a building with such units diversity: the number of openings and the different positions in the plan directly affect the architectural composition. For this reason, the balconies run around the entire length of the apartments, creating a unit for the building and tying up the volume with balconies and movable louvers.
In addition to the architectural features, we also designed the building as an urban element, so the relationship between the building and the street was especially considered since the first studies. The building offers the street an open garden in its front setback, balconies on the facade next to the sidewalk, and flower boxes that have become a visual breath and main feature of the building. Kind elements that are so much needed in a neighborhood marked by speed, walls, and developments isolated from the urban condition.
