Panama House

Panam? house is located in one of the garden neighborhoods, just some blocks from Paulista, the financial center of the city of S?o Paulo. The client has an important art collection, above all, modern Brazilian art, and the house was designed to house this collection. The works of art are scattered throughout all the areas of the residence, from the bedrooms to the gardens.
The interior house-plant is organized into 3 floors and a sub-solo. Upon entering the lot, a tree-covered patio leads the guest to the door. A social hall distributes part of the program of the house: a library, vertical circulation, the utility rooms and the living room. From within the library you can see, in front of the exterior stone wall, a Maria Martins sculpture, reposing over a reflecting pool. The living room has large spans that open, in their entirety, to the garden, building a spatial continuity between interior and exterior. In the garden, the pool, installed on the side of the lot, mirrors the stones of the wall.
On the second floor, a large corridor connecting the bedrooms also works as a gallery exhibiting the paintings and sculptures. Two windows, at the ends of the corridor, bathe this area with light and, in front of one of them a sculpture made by Brazilian Amilcar de Castro constructs the space. An office annexed to the master suite overlooks the garden, as do the other bedrooms. The fa?ades of the rooms have brise-soleils made of sliding vertical wooden lathes. The brise-soleils are important to guarantee greater comfort, protecting from direct sunlight and creating a texture with the light. One of the architectural premises of the house is to organize the space from a wooden box that is placed inside a C-shaped concrete cask. This concrete cask is formed by cement slabs and a wall and, in relation to the wooden box, determines the translucent and transparent areas. On the third story, a game room and an academy connect to a wooden deck, the terrace of the house. The utility rooms of the house and the garage are located on the sub-solo.
The stone and the wood, materials that refer to traditional Brazilian building, are mixed with modern materials, such as reinforced concrete and plastic and which create an architectural language. Reflecting concern with the precision of the construction, all of the details of the house were elaborated by the office, even some of the furniture that was specifically designed for the house.

architect, born in the marvelous city of S?o Paulo, graduated in 1976 from Mackenzie University, made films until the age of 30, and then decided on architecture. Major projects: Casa Du Plessis (ASBEA and Record House Awards, 2004), Casa Gama-Issa (ASBEA Award and short list World Architecture Award 2002), Casa BR (IAB Award 2004 and Record House 2005), Casa Cury, Hotel Fasano (short list Wallpaper Design Award 2005), Microbiology Museum (IAB Award 2002) and recently 2 houses in Spain, one in Alabama, and a Villa in Milan, and the disarranged Micasa Store Vol.B. In 2007 and 2008 received 10 international awards such as the International Bienal Barbara Cappochin in Padova, Italy with the Micasa Vol_B project, the ?Yellow Pencil? from the D&AD Award, London and the Dedalo Minosse in Vicenza, Italy for the Primetime nursery.

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