Two villas in Latin America: ‘Villa Redux’ in the Brazilian state of San Paolo on the edge of a swathe of prime indigenous forest, and ‘Villa Rocas’ in Chile, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Sited on sloping ground, both buildings are striking additions to their pristine natural setting. Yet both are based on the same assumption: to be a man-made presence that stands out but does not overwhelm their surrounds, an elegant new concept of how to be discreet component of an environment.
The underlying design principle of Villa Redux is addition. The building is an assembly of simple elements or blocks connected in sequence, each individual unit clearly visible within the whole. A single storey, the building rests on a concrete slab standing 50 cm off the ground. The roof is an identical concrete slab. The house is therefore contained within these two extended horizontal lines. The different environments are strung in succession between the two opposite ends of the building. To the northeast, the master bedroom, a secluded unit set slightly back from the roof overhang, overlooks the lawn and virgin forest beyond. At the opposite end of the house is the large living and dining area, placed slightly apart from the other environments. Unlike the master bedroom, this end of the building is transparent to the outside with full-height glazed walls. Luminosity is mitigated by the large roof overhang that protects the living area from direct sunlight and creates a wide, timber-floored terrace. The two contrasting blocks at opposite ends of the building lend a sense of dynamic balance to the whole. Extending at right angles from the terrace is the concrete parallelepiped volume holding the swimming pool. Initially standing just off the ground, it ends by cantilevering over the natural slope. The ‘manufactured’ quality of the unrendered concrete is an importance architectural feature in deliberate contrast to the rest of the building....
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Craig Dykers
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