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2016 MCHAP

Vertical Itaim Building

Marcio Kogan (studio mk27)

São Paulo, Brazil

September 2014

PRIMARY AUTHOR

Marcio Kogan / studio mk27 Carolina Castroviejo / studio mk27

CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR

Carlos Costa (Art Director) Mariana Simas (Director) Laura Guedes (PR) Oswaldo Pessano (Field Inspector) Fabiana Stucchi (collaborator) Fernanda Palmieri (collaborator)

CLIENT

Vitacon Participações Ltda

PHOTOGRAPHER

Pedro Vannucchi

OBJECTIVE

The façade of the building is done in exposed reinforced concrete and wooden panels, conceived to shade the inner environments and which the residents can move according to their desires. In this way, the users can optimize their comfort depending on their use and the incidence of the sun. The wood in these panels are arranged in a hollowed squared pattern and do not block the wind, just as the Arabian “Mashrabiya”, brought over to Brazilian colonial architecture and then later used by the modernist architects as well. This solution results in very pleasant temperatures. The exposed concrete refers to the brutalist-type buildings of São Paulo. The material, cast in wooden mold, has its own life, “a living organism” as Architect Lina Bo Bardi, the master of Brazilian modernism said. The texture of the slats – when lit by the sun – produces a surprising and poetic effect for the larger gables. The versatility of the apartments makes it possible for the floor plan to be rearranged according to the needs of the family, just as much in a totally open loft or one floor with two bedrooms. The living room has large panes of glass which increase the relation with the outside. This environment integrates fully with a terrace, lengthening the living area of the apartments. One of the wooden elements slides to this terrace to shade the environment or give greater privacy to the space, without any closing configuration and in this way gives the feeling of an external space.

CONTEXT

São Paulo’s skyline is ugly and disjointed and only in recent years there is an attempt to change this. The real-estate market is reaching a certain level of maturity, which allows for the architects to participate more actively in the process of the construction of the city. Therefore, this project was born with the desire to become a model for smarter urban living in an enormous, totally congested city, in which good design could be perceived as a value in architectural projects. The building’s plot is a relatively small, surrounded by other residential buildings. Our initial concern was regarding deployment, seeking better sunlight orientation for the apartments. Another concept that guided the project was to have an open ground floor, creating a sense of total depth for those entering the building. We opted to push back the fence and gate to allow for the sidewalk to relate with the landscaping. The facade with the “muxarabi” configures a large “live panel” for the street. They are in constant motion, as residents open and close them according to their need. The project was built up based on these small delicacies with the environment and with the user.

PERFORMANCE

Vertical Itaim is an urban contemporary building of only 13 floors which, through the use of the material as well as the architectural solutions of the plan and façade, create versatile and dynamic architecture, comfortable and functional for the dwellers with great integration of the spaces with the outside. The ground floor is “lifted” on slender columns allowing this floor to also have greater integration between the indoors and outdoors – the garden. Studio mk27 is very proud of the project’s simplicity, having found out that there is no need to “shout” to distinguish yourself in the skyline of Sao Paulo. The building has been well received, having received press recognition and some international awards. Users seem to be satisfied and the public even stop on the street to take pictures of it.

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