The AMB House was built on a sloping site in Guarujá, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and it features no less than 8,717 square feet of living space. It was designed by Bernardes, Jacobsen Arquitetura with comfort and wellness in mind, and it was completed in 2011. Due to the sloping nature of the terrain, only one of the three levels can be viewed from street level.
Conventional designs dictate that social spaces should be located downstairs and private areas should be inserted upstairs. This project flaunts an inverted solution that works better with the site’s unique characteristics. The entryway features a hall that overlooks a double ceiling living room. The intermediate level houses the dining area and living room, both of which are linked to the kitchen and an outdoor deck with an infinity pool. The ground level includes five suites, each boasting comfortable beds and well-equipped bathrooms.
In order to connect the house with its surrounding landscape, the architects decided to use wooden elements as much as possible, especially when it comes to various finishes. Some of the floors as well as the decks in the balconies are made out of wood, the same material used for the Cumarú shutters installed at the windows. Finally, the living room impresses with a pair of bamboo plants that sprout directly from its floor.
From the architect:
The AMB House is situated on the coast of São Paulo, Guaruja City in the middle of the Atlantic Forest. From the street you can only see one of the three floors of the house because the terrain has accentuated slopes that give different views of an almost untouched natural landscape.
The most common situation, where the rooms are upstairs and social rooms are downstairs, was reversed on the design of this residence. On the entrance of the house we have a hall that serves as a mezzanine overlooking the double ceiling living room with proximally 6,00m height and wood frame glass windows with a view looking at the swimming pool and the forest. In the lateral of the hall, the balcony outside is surrounded by large wooden bench, serving as a protection.
In the intermediate floor are the social areas: the living room and dining room, which join the outdoor kitchen, outdoor deck and infinity swimming pool. Downstairs is the intimate area with five suites. It is this strategy of reversing the usual array of social and intimate area that makes the rooms, even overlooking the sea, have the privacy afforded by the trees that are at that level.
The house can be called the balcony house with large glass panels that allow visual contact with the surrounding areas of the residence and the natural landscape of the region. The windows of the rooms have wooden Cumarú shutters .This wood is also present on the deck of the balconies and floors of rooms. In the living room two bamboo plants sprout from the middle of the floor, bringing the forest into the house.
This is how the house shows its relationship with the local landscape, barely visible through the dense forest in the access road, but grows and can be seen on the other side along with the look of a coastline and a stunning tropical forest.
- Location: Guarujá – SP, Brazil
- Architect In Charge: Paulo Jacobsen
- Design Team: Fabiana Porto (coordinator), Edgar Murata, Henrique Carvalho, Marina Nogaró.
- Area: 810.0 sqm
- Project Year: 2011
- Photographs: Leonardo Finotti
- Interior Design: Bernardes + Jacobsen Arquitetura
- Team: Eza Viegas (author), Tatiana Kamogawa
- Landscape: Jundu Paisagismo
- Lighting Design: Lightworks – Airton Pimenta
- Facilities: Grau Engenharia
- Air Conditioning: Grau Engenharia
- Structure: Leão & Associados
- Construction: EUM
- Site Area: 1310m²
