House in Cotia

Surrounded by a protected green area and a golf course, this site is placed in a suburban area of Sao Paulo city. By contrasting to a 20 million people metropolis, its bucolic atmosphere seems really attractive.

The topography has imprinted to the lot an obliquely 20% slope and has produced a quite steep ascendant ramp [100%] at the border with the street, due to the cut of the ground when of the street construction. Thus, cars’ access was one of the first challenges to be faced by the project. Also, to keep as much as possible the existing topography or to build the building independently of the ground, both of them have become strategic to this design proposal.

The garage [level 103.00 meters] is placed close to the street and its level. From the street it looks like a cave in the existing ramp at the border of the street.

The house [level 108.00 meters] is designed over the ground level. An extremely simple reinforced concrete structure supported by just two columns highlights the independence between building and ground. A pair of beams displayed on the roof is all we need to hang the slabs by using some 50mm of diameter steel bars. This structural system allows us to freely design the slabs, although it is always contained inside a rectangle. It results a tough form from outside and a free form from inside. This rule is broken when the slab “leaves” the house toward the courtyard through a winding path.

On the level in between the garage and the house [level 105.50 meters], there is an intermediate space. Intermediate in its level, in its program and also in its meaning: partially ground and partially building.

PUBLICATIONS:
Periodicals

ANGELO BUCCI: HOUSE IN COTIA
ga houses / japão n 103 / 2008