In a city like Sao Paulo, the address signifies a large part of the qualities associated with urban life. The Vila Mariana is a neighbourhood where mixed uses ensures the vitality of daily activities, it is endowed with public transport, commerce and leisure. The site is located at Calixto da Mota Street, located at a higher part of the city, close to Domingos de Moraes Avenue, which ensures privileged views. Tall buildings that generate gaps allow enjoying these visuals surrounding the lot.
Proposed scheme has assumed a structure capable of switching the opening direction of the apartments, ensuring the best orientation for all: views, aeration and sunshine. This strategy is systemic in a metropolis whose towers current model are isolated in their small lots, establishing a giant and generic city silhouette. This deployment respects all neighbours, because it preserves appropriate distances between apartments.
In practice, the operation is the opposite of generic projects stamped on any site, indiscriminately. The building adapts itself to the lot with slopes in two directions. The street level difference (more than two meters from one to another) allows having access to two underground parking lots, reducing earthwork.
Above this highest access level is located a residents leisure area with a ballroom, collective laundry and gymnastics and in the rooftop, there is a swimming pool and a solarium. Thus, this escalation results in a construction that extends common areas, respecting original topography and neighbouring buildings. The front setback, required by planning legislation, has been incorporated as a garden offered to the city.
The horizontal volume establishes the limit and folds itself vertically, forming one of the two blocks with 12 floors of apartments. The other block has 11 levels and is a little set back from the street. Those two towers are separated by unit’s entries corridor, which is also a waiting area for elevators. This space is opened to the city, with light and fresh air. The reference floor plan has four apartments of 44,00m2 and a larger apartment with 67,00m2.
The apartments have their size increased by generous balconies, protected by translucent roll panels, controlling incidence of sun, wind and rain. All penthouse units have access to a solarium in its balconies. The construction will be in reinforced fair-faced concrete, in other words structure, finishing, volumetry and expression come from technical quality and rationality of constructive systems. Each material was conceived from the perspective of its qualities: suspended ceilings in wooden boards, inner panels in plaster (for thermo-acoustic efficiency) and glass opening to the balconies.
This building, designed for real estate market, purposes to deploy as a rule, not exception, in the city.