area 114 | São Paulo

architect: Brasil Arquitetura

location: São Paulo

year: 2009

For her purpose-built studio, the artist was looking for a large space with a high ceiling to allow her large installations to enter, as well as a small office and a place to sleep in case the works goes on until early morning hours. The project consists of a pavilion that occupies the entire width of the lot (6,90m). Its double height enabled the insertion of a mezzanine, where there is a bedroom with a bathroom. Office, toilet and a small kitchen are placed on the ground floor underneath the mezzanine, leaving the remaining space for the creative work of the artist. The side walls are made of re-used bricks from the small demolished house that existed on the site beforehand. They are whitewashed in order to increase the natural daylight by reflecting the light that enters through the roof lights. The roof is made of a concrete slab with a garden and a permanent water film. Like the roof slab, the other parts of the structure are also made of reinforced concrete, the enclosing walls are made of solid bricks. The floor slab directly creates the floor finish, simply made smooth by grinding. On the mezzanine, made of exposed concrete, there is the only enclosed volume of the studio: a volume of white painted brickwork, which contains most of the wet areas with the water installations and the spiral staircase, which connects ground floor, mezzanine and roof garden. The roof slab is made waterproof by a permanent water film underneath the soil of the garden, eliminating the need of waterproofing membranes. In order to maintain the level of the water film constant, there is a buoy and drainpipes.