Vila Nova Da Conceiçao Residence
Smoke and Mirrors - once past the solid industrial façade of this residence, light, shade and reflections open up this hemmed in residence by Thiago Bernardes and Paulo Jacobsen.
Architect/Designer: Bernardes + Jacobsen Information courtesy of: Bernardes + Jacobsen
Overview & Plot
In dealing with a narrow conical plot near Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, stretching the layout and smart use of structural steel, has rewarded Thiago Bernardes and Paul Jacobsen.
The sloped plot, required them to play with the layout of the house, spreading out and reordering the location of the office, five bedrooms with en suites, and the gym into a plot of just 760m2.
At the narrow entrance end of the plot sit the service area, laundry and garage, just below ground level. Half a level above street height and just a little further down the plot are the entrance, kitchen and dining room. From here, an impressive atrium carries you either: down a long set of short depth stairs the living room, home theatre and gym; or upstairs to the five bedrooms. This atrium is an amazing planted area with bamboo and foliage abound. Through glass openings above; it appears light and airy, despite being in the centre of the narrow plot.
Key to the project is this area of vertical circulation. It is composed of a set of stairs and bridge, illuminated by openings above, which give the residence spatiality that is unusual. Through this atrium, emphasis was also placed on the secondary entrance, access between the house and garage, used every day, but often ignored in design. 
Layout
On the ground floor, at the widest area of the plot, the living rooms all open out to the pool and BBQ area receiving light through sliding doors that rise the height of their extended stud.
Above, the bedrooms are one and a half storeys off the ground. The extra high stud, affording them light and views above the surrounding residences.
The Result
The project also takes full advantage of the external area at the bottom of the plot.
This is done through: high studs; open plan; minimal interference in the indoor outdoor flow; and where support was needed the upper levels, svelte steel poles were used, and even then, polished to a mirror, to minimise their impact.
The garden is then in effect doubled through the use of a reflective sheathing on the rear party wall (intriguing, as we often see this in narrow restaurants to double the depth of perception). 
Plans
Completed: December 2005.
Materials: Steel structure, stone, wood, glass and Ceramic tiles
Built area: 900m2
Comments
I didn't realise the Picasa input was slowing things down. I'll do some usability testing to see where things are in terms of loading speed.
The main push behind the move was to get the images in a single folder for each post (and it also allows double the filespace).
And yes, recently sourcing higher quality images has been hard.
I'll see what I can do for the next post to make things faster.
You prefer the images in the post rather than in the picasa viewer?
Do you have any other things you'd like to see?
How about some local architects you'd like to see a post on?
Regards,
Nick
And I've always loved your posts on South American architects (like Kogan etc.). Living in Atlantic Canada and being unable to speak Spanish definitely hinders my ability to find good South American architects. Your site has always been great for that.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
-Andrew
I'll work on a way to get the images to load direct without Picasa.
Speaking Spanish and Portuguese helps sourcing the South American posts and in translation.
I have some Brazilian houses on the way and a deal with Plataforma Arquitectura to repost in English so more Chilean works as well.
Regards,
Nick