Skip to main content

Helena Karpouzas - Silveira Beach House

Helena Karpouzas
Residência, Garopaba



Hunting for a Brazilian cantilevered house that I remembered after yesterday's post (which I couldn't find), I came across this little Brazilian bach.

Another little summer retreat, it's full glass and opens right up so that you can eat in relative cool, then has a great solid stone clad basement for sleeping comfortably below. Using the slope of the land, each room has an exit to the beach, and the mezzanine has a lifeguards view of the incoming waves.

Simple timber and glass construction allow, the upper two storeys (the only ones visible from the beach) to blend in with the surroundings and let in all the sights and sounds of the beach. There's a minimal solid structure at the rear, supporting everything and housing the majority of the plumbing and water tank no doubt.

This beach is fairly far down the coast in Brazil, so I am picking this has just the right amount of overhang to block out the midday sun, yet let in all the light in winter.
There's something about being able to walk straight out of your bedroom door to grass and down to a beach....





















From Arcoweb:

With a permanent population around 12 thousand inhabitants, Garopaba, a city on the Catarinense coast, is situated little more than 80 km from Florianópolis. The diversified relief and the beautiful local nature are some of the elements found around Silveira beach, where Helena Karpouzas projected this pretty summer house.

The construction of this residence, built on Silveira beach, in Garopaba, Santa Catarina, Brazil, begins with a stone built basement, anchoring the delicate open spaces of the floors above.

Helena adopted as conceptual base of complete interaction of the residence with the surrounding nature, as much in it's relation with the ground (steep slope) as with the surrounding landscape, whilst incorporating a decent sea view. "The geometry of the construction is basic, there's no complexity to it and the floor plan is as simple as possible.", argues the architect. The intention of the design was to catch all the available light of the natural elements (Sun, Moon, stars), as well as all the wind and all the sounds, justifies Helena. "I wanted to establish a conscious inseparability of the house and it's surroundings, in all directions".

The basement adopts a simple plan, constructed in stone, "a technique inherited from the Portuguese by the natives of the beach", says the architect. On this floor, drawn out of the ground, the bedrooms and bathrooms are located. On the first floor, of similar dimensions, sit the kitchen, dining and living areas. The large wood framed glass windows and aluminium structure, make this level seem bigger than they are. The mezzanine above incorporates the same features (glass and wood). The decks extending on each of the upper levels, beak up the box shaped plan of the house.


Via: Arcoweb

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hiroaki Ohtani - Kobe Layer House

Hiroaki Ohtani Kobe Layer House Continuing the last posts stripy theme, which is about all these houses have in common, despite the Japanese link. This is Hiroaki Ohtani solution to infill in Japan. The house is made up of pre-cast concrete strips, stacked unevenly to allow stairs, furniture and floors to be inserted in the gaps. It's tight, claustrophobic, yet entirely open. There are no internal doors, apart from the sliding doors to the toilet. Passing the tree in the courtyard, that brings irregualar form to this oterwise linear exterior, you enter on a landing, where you can either traverse to the bedroom, or head downstairs to the basement where a formal dining room and bathroom are housed. Climbing up you reach the living room and galley kitchen with a steep set of stairs taking you to the roof deck, of which half is a glazed panel to bathe the main stairwell with light. The front of the house is a larged glass panel to let more light into the house and the r

Murray Cockburn Partnership - Kohara Lodge

Murray Cockburn Partnership Kohara Lodge Of middle earth - Murray Cockburn has created a true hideaway. Kohara Lodge, of local schist stone and sedum roof, sits in quiet vigil above the Shotover river. Oh, and it's a holiday let. Overview Kohara Lodge has been built with environmental considerations in mind. The owners' main aim was to put the land back to the way it was once building had finished hence the design of the property incorporating the natural hillside, and re-planting the grounds with native New Zealand trees. The architect's vision was to replicate the natural environment as much as possible. To this end natural schist stone from a local quarry was used and this was dry laid as much as possible and dry stacked. Recycled railway timbers have been used on the outside of the property and there is no paint anywhere on the exterior of the house. The windows at Kohara Lodge all have Comfort glass to prevent glare and reflection, built in UV protection and double

Lund Hagem - Cabin Ameln

Lund Hagem , based out of Norway have a fantastic site, and collection of baches. Cabin Ameln, a providing sheltered BBQ retreat, and views out across the fjord. Contour hugging hunkered in design, connects with the site while minimalist layout and crisp finishes set it apart from your ordinary weekend retreat. Location: Østerøya, Sandefjord, Norway Size: 90 m2 Completed: 2009 The building sits in sloping terrain in close proximity to the sea. It has been designed to create favourable, screened outdoor areas. Previous buildings (4 in total) have been demolished and replaced with one new building that collects all functions under one roof. The L-shaped layout uses steps to follow the terrain so that the building can utilise existing vegetation and trees to avoid visibility from the sea. This layout creates one upper and one lower outdoor area/patio. The upper patio has been duly screened from the seafront, but offers views through the building due to glass walls. I think I've fo