Passos House / David Guerra

Solutions to lightning and ventilation were essential to bring the necessary freshness to a warm region. A large garden was conceived on the four sides of the terrain, designed by Felipe Fontes, combined with a winter garden in the center. The result is a courtyard aspect right in the middle of the residence, inspired by buildings that would rely on a more natural solution than air conditioning. This space becomes not just a place of reunion, but also a focal point, that enables heat exchange with the exterior.

A house with an open concept and integrated spaces requires solutions for privacy. The woodwork of sliding doors allows integration as well as limitation of the common spaces, looking for the simultaneity of activities so much for receiving guests, but also on the aspects of private life. The home office can be brought to join the living room, allowing amplification of space, natural lighting to come in, and the expansion of crossed ventilation. All spaces aim for convergence and integration.

The materials reflect the environment and the natural context: floors, decks, ceilings, panels, all in “freijó” wood. Besides, the use of cement, bricks, and stone help to complement this composition. When it comes to colors, the goal was to transform the space, filling it with life and affection, from pink to caramel, from brown to green, from blue to yellow, on the walls and on furniture, carpets, and artwork.

The roof was chosen looking to distance the architecture from regular solutions like, for example, concrete slabs, bringing the richness of tradition, reminding of older roofing solutions. At the same time, the use of orthogonal details tries to break the singularity of meaning, creating an interesting dialogue between modern and traditional. The most preponderant element is the remembrance of affective memory, priority, and the main philosophy of all designs made by the office.

The bedroom area was separated on an adjacent block, protected from the public sight of the common spaces. However, it was a priority for the bedrooms to be in symbiosis with nature. The interposition of private gardens along the extension of all windows was the solution. With that, the dwellers can enjoy privacy without losing contact with nature.

Furniture, carpets, and objects had a close curatorship and supervision of the architect himself, combined with an auspicious look and accurate taste of the owners, who very well understood the necessity of a matched solution in interior design when compared to architectural ones. Therefore, the result was a house well built, with harmonious solutions on furniture, objects, and artwork.

At last, this building became a highlight in town: complexity combined with natural simplicity. A residence of animus dominus, where dwellers find the comforts of modern life but also the indispensable contact with nature, fresh air, and silence. It’s the synthesis of good architecture, answering to the most rigorous demands of a project so quintessential as a residence.