The narrow and deep lot with large side gables, the small street with windows just a few meters from the front of the lot, and an urban environment densely built suggested a courtyard house. As in every courtyard house, the relationship between the interior and exterior was a fundamental issue.

As in every courtyard house, an open-air space was created inside the lot, the patio, protected from the surroundings by the house itself. From the street, the interior of the house is protected by a rustic stone wall, which, as in so many historic buildings, especially in Brazil, is a wall covering that usually echoes a foundation. This “foundation”, in this project, was elevated – reverted, so to speak – protecting the most intimate rooms on the upper floor and leaving the ground floor less obstructed. On the ground floor façade, where the access doors are located, small pieces of metallic sheet braided like a basketwork allow a glimpse of the light coming from the patio, allowing air flow, and serving as a fence.

This façade with an inverted base was replicated again inside the house, on the other side of the courtyard, with the same purpose. However, in the central part of the house, where the living room is located, the strategy was different. In the living room, which is already protected by the front and back of the house, as well as by the neighbors’ gables, the enclosure is made of glass on both floors, creating a transparent space that, in contrast to the two heavy and opaque stone walls, integrates with the central courtyard and the garden at the side gable. The living room’s sliding doors turn the combined gardens and living room into a large patio, a place that concentrates all the circulation of the house and the main living and social areas, a large outdoor area for daily life that can be used in any climatic condition.

On the upper floor, most of the rooms face the patio, but they also take advantage of the possibilities that a house on a hill offers, with free views of the city’s skyline, as well as a nearby small, quiet street. The windows on the upper floor, designed almost as embrasures, give these walls a fortification appearance, while allowing a more intense exposure to the outside than conventional sill windows. The two ensuite bedrooms and the living room with a sofa bed on the upper floor have balconies that open to the outside, but the access to them is always recessed and protected, allowing these spaces to be continuously open, without losing privacy inside. This game of internal/external spaces also includes the entrance hall and the office, both facing the garden, which extends along the entire length, from the façade to the staircase.

Taking advantage of the different heights of the lot, on the right side of the façade we created an independent access to a basement, which houses a cachaça cellar requested by the client. In this cellar, with an atmosphere of little natural light coming from above, a constant cool temperature – which also favors the conservation of the cachaça – and the characteristic smell of a semi-buried place, guests will be able to get a taste of the beverage produced by the owner.

Design:

Fernando Delgado, Isabela Canêdo, Renan Vargas

Location:

Rua Dr. Evaristo de Carvalho, Muriaé-MG, Brazil

Project start:

2022

Floor area:

321m²

Status:

On-going

Structural engineering:

Regis Miranda