The clients, a couple who spend most of the year sailing on a sailboat through the Mediterranean islands, ask us to design a house in a condominium near a small village of the northeast of Brazil.
Project name: Bamboo House
Architect’s Firm: Vilela Florez
Website: www.vilelaflorez.com
Contact e-mail: studio@vilelaflorez.com
Project location: Pipa Beach, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Completion Year: 2017
Gross Built Area (square meters or square foot): 180sqm
Lead Architects: Mariana Vilela, Daniel F. Flórez.
Photo credits: Guillermo F. Florez
Brands / Products
List of materials and brands (at least 5) used in your project.
- Tao Bambu – treated bamboo
- Sherwin-Williams – Superpaint façade exterior paint
- Central da Telha – treated eucaliptus wood
- Pedra Preta –portuguese mosaic stone
- JPM Aluminio – alimunium doors and windows
- Officina Interiores – Tidelli – furniture
- Tadeu Araújo– wooden doors and windows
Their only conditions were that we should stick to the budget and it should be finished in only 10 months.
Given the limited time granted for design and construction, a simple volume with the rooms is proposed and connected by bridges to an outdoor living area, paved in stone as the traditional Portuguese sidewalks. This living area is protected laterally by two local- stone walls and shaded by a wooden roof.
The program includes, besides the gran outside living area, laundry, kitchen, and three rooms where their sons could stay with their family.
The volume of the bedrooms is built in structural masonry of concrete blocks, creating vertical ribs where bamboo sticks panels, arranged as fishbone, are placed in between. The bamboo panels shade the façade, helping the thermal behavior of the building.
The house is oriented towards the prevailing winds which crosses the pool water and the vegetation of the gardens to penetrate the bedrooms, cooling the constant breeze and refreshing the interior from the strong tropical heat.
Besides the natural color pallet, spanning from wood, to bamboo and natural stone, the bedroom volume is painted in Mediterranean blue, a color so familiar to the clients from their many boat trips.
Mariana Vilela
Mariana Vilela, architect graduated at University of Sao Paulo, and Daniel Fernández Flórez, architect by the E.T.S.A. Madrid, form the VILELA FLOREZ studio, after sharing five years of experience working at Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland.
During the HdM years, Mariana collaborated in the projects for Centro Cultural Luz in Sao Paulo, Atelier in Düsseldorf, Miu Miu flagship store in Tokyo and managed for three years the design and construction works of the sports hall “Arena do Morro” in Natal. Daniel worked in the design and construction teams of the projects of BBVA headquarters in Madrid and in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In the Basel office, he participates in the design teams of the Centro Cultural Luz in Sao Paulo, Gasklocka housing tower in Estocolmo and several competitions like Wood Wharf tower in London.
After a study trip in southeast Asia in 2014, they settled in Tibau do Sul – Brasil to stablish their own office by the sea, working in local residential projects and participating on competitions around the world.
In 2016 they won a competition for a very iconic square in the center of Madrid, in collaboration with their friend Carlos Higinio Esteban.
In 2019 the firm was selected by Wallpaper Magazine as one of the promising practices of the year, being part of the Architects Directory July edition. Along with this publication, their projects have been published in several media’s around the globe.
Although they continue to develop their practice locally, they are also focusing on projects in Europe and Asia where they expect to work on larger scale projects in the coming years.
