One hour away from São Paulo, this rural retreat enjoys an astonishing view towards a golf course. The extensive 1200 square meters program was designed to create large common spaces while maintaining complete privacy for the client’s family and their guests.
Project Name: JY House
Architect Name: Studio Arthur Casas
The steep plot, with a height difference ranging more than 6 meters, had to be adapted. Earth was moved to create a continuous mid-level, ensuring the great horizontality of the house. Two boxes were superposed and displaced, covered in different materials to mark the separation between common and private areas.
In the ground floor, the concrete volume is oriented from East to West and holds the kitchen and social areas. Upon entering the house, visitors contemplate the horizontality of the landscape which is enhanced by a large 30 meters span and by the inclined ceiling that reaches a height of 4.5 meters on its border. Continuity between spaces is highlighted by 11 glass doors that slide to the sides and by the stone flooring that extends to the wooden deck. The western section of the house, exposed to the harsh tropical sunset, hosts a home theater and guestrooms that can open both to the golf course and to the gardens in the rear of the plot, protected by louvers. In the eastern section, under the cantilever of the upper volume, a barbecue and a ground hearth were placed in front of the swimming pool.
The first floor volume is covered in dark metal panels that seem to float in contrast with the lush green landscape and the concrete box underneath it. Parents and children stay in rooms on opposite sides of the stairs, giving privacy to all.
An elevated terrace, 60 cm above the bedrooms, follows the façade and creates an interesting relation between inside and outside through a millwork that integrates both levels with steps and drawers. The metal panels protect the rooms from indiscrete regards while maintaining a view to the landscape even when closed. The cantilevered part of the volume holds a gym and a game room, with a separate access through stairs coming from the barbecue area.
In close contact with an idyllic context, Casa Y responds to the client’s wishes for a balanced solution between privacy and openness. The landscape highlights the view towards the golf course while the contrasting materials employed in the concrete and metal volumes translate the dichotomy of the program.
ARTHURCASAS.COM
STUDIO ARTHUR CASAS
From the object to the landscape, inside out, the creative process of Studio Arthur Casas is intimately connected to a horizontal scale, where the main concern is the dialogue in the conception of programs that can be as diverse as a chair or an entire neighborhood, influenced by a spirit both modernist and contemporary – that is Brazilian but also cosmopolitan. Since 1999, the team of designers, architects and urbanists works from São Paulo and NY, and has built in several cities worldwide such as Tokyo, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, NY and São Paulo, creating a vocabulary that is recognized and published internationally.
ARTHUR CASAS
Graduated from Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo Mackenzie in 1983, Arthur Casas created Studio Arthur Casas in 1999; since then, he has gained recognition over the years and has received numerous national and international awards. With offices in São Paulo and Nova York, the Studio has over 300 concluded projects in several areas, including residential and commercial architecture, corporate and urban projects, public competitions, interiors and object design, in Brazil and abroad.
