"Casa do Talude" is a student housing concept for a technical institute in southern Brazil. The project is aimed to shelter up to 20 low income students inside the campus, on a steep terrain facing the street.
The goal here was to create a building that's unseen from the campus, creating next to zero visual impact on-site. Thus, inspired by works of Alvaro Siza and more, the design was created to completely remove any views from the inside to the campus as well, targetting to create an atmosphere where students would indeed feel home, not on a student pavilion inside the university. The north, south and western facades are pure concrete (the latter is facing the ground entirely), where as the eastern facade is 100% openable, with no walls, with only transparent glass railings and the Muxarabis foldable panels (wood panels) on the way to full infinity. The eastern facade brings into the building a view of the mountains, while being opposite to campus. This open/closed duet characterizes the building.
The main volumetry of the building targets to take better advantage of the terrain: no more than 1m³ (approximately) of land would be moved and the terrain would largely remain as is, as the majority of the building is above the ground, sustained by columns. The two storey, stair-like design helps to create public spaces (terraces) whereas other buildings have roofs. The creation of a large public space on top of the building helps to reduce the impact of placing a relatively large building in a small campus, for only 20 residents.
The project, whose concept is to create a home (4 apartments) for students with their own individual spaces, uses minimal and japanese architecture as inspiration for space (hence cost) saving ideas, as foldable furnitures (image x), and bedroom-like multipurpose cabins, which fit an individual studying, closet and sleeping area in a 2 x 2.5 m.
The whole concept also aims to create an enviromental friendly atmosphere for its residents, by expanding the organic plantations next to the site (in-campus), cutting food expenses and creating a healthy environment. The whole design also sets itself by introducing a new philosophy to the layout: circulation spaces, such as corridors and stairs, also become useful, with seating, lounge and reading areas.
The brazilian culture also takes part in this modernist building by the addition of the Muxarabis panels (wood curtain panels), native from the northeast coast of Brazil.
