Brazilian architecture practice Gisele Borges Arquitura He built an apartment building wrapped in it Aluminium Painted in an earthy reddish-brown color hinting at the abundance of raw ore in Minas Gerais.
Named CASAMIRADOR Savassi, the triplex apartment building is located in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, BrazilIt features boldly designed architecture that stands out in the local landscape.
Offering 14 lofts and 24 studios, the units are spread over nine floors in a building located on a narrow plot, 12.7 meters wide.
As the studio explained, the challenge of volumetric mathematics was derived from respecting the distances within its surrounding neighbours, creating architecture with its own identity.
The interdependence of the building structure and the architectural project afforded great creative freedom, culminating in the most notable element: the second skin that “dresses” the building like a garment, giving it unique characteristics.
Photo © Giuliana Berzuini
Aluminum was the main material enveloping the entire building, while it was painted an earthy reddish-brown color indicating the abundance of ore in Minas Gerais.
In order to obtain lightness and transparency, aluminum sheets received holes of different sizes, and were made asymmetrically, but symmetrically. This process allows seeing through from the inside out, as cityscapes unfold through the skin.
Photo © Giuliana Berzuini
However, from the outside looking inside, the inside cannot be seen, ensuring privacy for the resident. This element also made it possible to explore a rich set of effects, from masking smaller functional windows, to tearing out the skin to reveal large distances. Being generous openings, these windows allow the city to become an extension of the house, with an abundance of light and ventilation. The concrete frames of the openings contrast with the dominant anodized colour.
The skin covering the building also provides thermal comfort to the units. Away from the construction, it provides shading of the fences and good ventilation through a mattress of fresh air.
From this perspective, sustainability guided a large part of the project choices. Due to the small dimensions of the land, and the minimum surface area for the installation of equipment or photovoltaic panels, it was necessary to find a solution that would avoid the ingress of heat, at the expense of the air conditioning project.
The pyramidal shape of the building, resulting from the awe-inspiring, also made it possible to allocate technical areas on the outer face of the building, as well as on the inner face of the skin, ensuring clean and unadorned plastic.
Another feature of the project relates to the challenge of placing the pyramid on the ground, gently touching the ground at one point. Under the influence of the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, a “V”-shaped column was created, which is widely used in his works.
Finally, to ensure flatness on the facades, the panels were bent on all four sides, thus increasing their rigidity. Although the slabs were randomly perforated, the joints were aligned and the size was consistent, several studies were conducted until the final installation model produced the slabs’ alignment and midpoint for each floor.
The study included optimization in the secondary structure for fixing the slabs: there are only three horizontal sides to each floor, and the upper and lower sections were combined to fix the adjacent floor slabs.
The final plastic is the result of the marriage between the cover caps, the tires and the chassis. Three elements alternate on the facades that are more or less related to the leather, which ensures a clean and unobtrusive plastic.
garage floor plan
Section
Section
front face
axial drawing
Facts about the project
Project official name: Casamirador Savassi
Site: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
client: Casamirador Incorporações
Architect / Design: Gisele Borges
Project manager: Ulysses Mikhail Itokawa
Collaborators: Helena Hostalcio, Ira Pimenta, Mariana Correa, Manuela Frattisi, Luisa Menicucci, Gabriella Jacobina e Victor Lamonnier.
project team: Phonetics: Composition,
HVAC: protherm,
structure: Bedê Consultoria e Projetos
Glass and metal facades: Aludesign competitions: Geomec Engenheiros Consultores, installations: Projelet Projetos e Sistemas Prediais Ltda
Construction completion date: 2021
Top photo © Giuliana Berzuini.
All photos © Pablo Gumed Unless otherwise specified.
All graphics © Casamirador Savassi.
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