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Grabowsky House by Miguel Pinto Guimarães |
Home > Winners > Design #79639 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
MP: The main idea was to create a green roof that would make the architecture disappear into the landscape. As you approach from above, those who come near the house simply do not see it and the architecture works as a visual bridge linking the slopes on both sides of the valley that split the land where the site is located. A long green slab connects the roof to the slope behind. With 20 meters long, covers the entrance hall that is located on the upper floor.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
MP: The main objective is to respect and dialogue with the surrounding nature. Topography and solar orientation were the guides in the design of this house. Lately I,ve been trying to mimic architecture to nature with the use of green roofs and making the construction visual impact as discrete as possible. The materials used are always natural. Wood, stone, straw, concrete, linen, leather. These materials contribute to this mimesis. They are natural supports for the growth of mosses, ivy plants and creepers. This is our goal. They are unmistakable signs that nature has accepted our architecture.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
MP: We have just been comissioned to project an expansion of this residence. We will create a new leisure building with an open kitchen, sauna, jacuzzi, wine cellar and spa. And we will finally build the pool that was initially projected, but which the clients chose not to build because of the presence of a cristal river and waterfalls nearby, inside their land.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
MP: The project process lasted about a year. Two months for the elaboration of the concept sketch and another 10 months for the other steps of designing execution. Construction took around another two years.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
MP: The only request of the clients was to receive a contemporary country house. They didn't want a classic country residence that looked more like a chalet. Hence we adopted this concept of green roof, metallic structure, double ceiling and large open spaces.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
MP: Does not apply for architecture.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
MP: We were comissioned by the clients for designing a private mountain retreat.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
MP: This is a design concept that we are adopting on our the latest residential projects. A contemporary architecture, but that appropriates the repertoire of details of the Brazilian modernist movement.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
MP: It's a custom made design for a young couple. He's from the financial business, she owns a restaurant and researches healthy food.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
MP: Every home we design is absolutely unique. It respects the topography, the site where it is built and the desire of the owners. In the case of custom made architecture it is practically impossible to replicate it in another project.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
MP: It's is the surname of the owners. Normally it is how we call our projects.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
MP: I start with paper and pencil. I am quite old-fashioned. When my sketch is passed to my team of architects, we work on VectorWorks, AutoCAD e ArchiCAD (BIM), Sketchup and 3DMax.
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
MP: Definitely understanding the local Nature and natural landscape. This is the basis of sustainability. Studying and understanding the peculiarities of climate, rainfall, flora, researching how the ancient people solved those questions and bringing all these answers to our work. My work has to have one eye on the environment and the other on the past. I pursue the project of the best Brazilian House, which best interprets the traditional Brazilian dwelling incorporating elements of the indigenous housing, the Portuguese colonial buildings and the modernist repertoire.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
MP: The first conceptual sketch is my main role, from there on, my team assumes the development of the project. We always work in close contact with the technical designers. In the project of this house, the structural engineer, the landscape designer, and the lighting designer had essential roles. The exchange between the architecture studio and their teams was quite intense.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
MP: Structural engineer was fundamental to build it up. The main technical difficulty of this project is linked to the structural design. We wanted half of the upper floor to be balanced over the veranda, so we researched on a metal structural system called Vierendeel, much used in the construction of bridges, that would permit the execution of the complex structure desired. We used that kind of truss of rectangular openings on the frontal and lateral façades. That is the exterior structural skeleton of the house that permitted us to have the bedrooms on the upper floor over the veranda without any support. The Vierendeel truss results from the system that connects the lower and the upper steel beam with vertical slim pilars. Another issue that we dedicated ourselves was the impermeabilization of the roof of the house, because of the installation of the garden over it.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
MP: Basically the research on the climate and local flora. It is necessary to understand the daily movement of the sun and between all seasons. It is also necessary to know the original plant specimens or the ones that better adapt to this particular ecosystem, in order to improve a faster and less costly development of the garden and design a landscape that use less amount of water for artificial watering.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
MP: The main architectural concept was to create a veranda, also 20 meters long, without any pilars. The bedrooms on the upper floor are projected over that veranda, without any vertical support. The lack of pilars reinforce the idea of integration between the inside and the outside, conecting the living room, the veranda and then the garden itself. The solution for that engineer query was the use of the Vierendeel truss system.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
MP: This house has already received some awards in Brazil. It's one of my favorite projects. As we were commissioned to enlarge it recently, I decided to submit to A' Award to crystallize it as it was conceived.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
MP: Throughout the project, I feel myself evolved as a professional. It's gratifying to deal, for almost three years, with clients who love and give proper value to architecture. It becomes a relationship that lasts after the work. I always say that, in architecture, much more important than the projects we build are the friends we make for the rest of our lives.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
MP: We chose for finishing, just natural materials, specialy raw concrete on the walls, wood on the ceiling and flooring and natural stone on some details. We consider that natural materials age well, with digninity, interacts with the nature and as they get old, they evidence the acceptance of the architecture by the Nature. The owners are art collectors so the highlight of this residence is the sculpture garden at the main level, with the living both connected to it both with double ceiling and part of glass roofing bringing natural light to the interiors. Both sides of the upper floor are connected by a steel bridge crossing the double ceiling and spliting living room from the internal garden. On the sculpture garden we commissioned the Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto for a site specific art installation. In this project, in the interior design we just worked with the best Brazilian designers such as Sergio Rodrigues, Hugo França, Zanini de Zanine, Maria Candida Machado, Etel Carmona and Claudia Moreira Salles.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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