Project: Bamboo House
Architects: Vilela Florez
Location: Pipa Beach, Natal, Brazil
Area: 1,937 sf
Photographs by: Courtesy of Vilela Florez
The Bamboo House project that we are showcasing today is a spectacular modern villa located in the area of Pipa Beach, next to the town of Natal in Brazil. It was designed by Vilela Florez with just under 2,000 square feet of living spaces. As its title may suggest, the design of this dwelling is characterized by the use of bamboo wood but its most prominent feature is its stellar location that opens it up to breathtaking views.
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.
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.
–Vilela Florez
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