BIRI architecture studio together with the architect Brener Lacerda, were commissioned to build a single-family residence in Casa Branca (Brumadinho), a town in Minas Gerais south of the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. The purpose of the project is to design a house away from the high urban density.

Casa Maenduaba was designed valuing the simplicity within the complexity of the nature of the place with numerous ecological trails and waterfalls, in addition the project seeks the integration between the building and the slope that is naturally generated in the place.
"Casa Maenduaba" designed by the BIRI studio and Brener Lacerda pay attention to the primitive illustration of a home, two rectangular floors, with a gabled roof. In the entrance area there is a space of free height equal to the two floors that generate the building. A wall is added to this volume as a barrier that allows dividing the garage area with the service area, an area open to the rear garden where a swimming pool appears. On the lower floor are the public spaces, dining room and kitchen, continuous and open-plan, and on the upper floor are the bedrooms, living space and an office.

The structure is mixed, precast concrete slabs supported on concrete porticos and covered with thermo-acoustic tiles installed on metal steel beams. The building generates a vision of a monolithic white block on the ground floor that on the second floor is clad in wood treated with a black stain.


Casa Maenduaba by  BIRI + Brener Lacerda. Photography by Jomar Bragança.
 

Description of project by BIRI

The residence was designed to meet the needs of a family that seeks to live outside the context of high urban density, closer to nature in their daily lives, valuing simplicity.

Built in Casa Branca (Brumadinho), a town in Minas Gerais recognized for its ecological trails and waterfalls, Casa Maenduaba seeks to integrate with the existing slope of the natural terrain and with views of Serra da Calçada, Ouro Fino and Três Irmãos .

The development of the internal spaces takes place under a gabled roof, adding spatial complexity from a practical solution that refers to the illustrations we used to do in childhood to illustrate a home.

From the external facade, the initial view of the house is that of a monolithic block (covered in wood treated with a black stain) supported by a white block. The external lateral volume that houses the garage and service area forms a visual barrier, generating privacy to the uncovered external area of the house, where, in addition to a grassy area, there is a swimming pool and a vegetable garden, at the back of the terrain.


Casa Maenduaba by  BIRI + Brener Lacerda. Photography by Jomar Bragança.

On the first level there is a continuous and integrated space that serves as a living room, dining room, kitchen and covered outdoor area. The upper floor is visually integrated with the lower environment through a mezzanine, on this level two bedrooms, a living space and an office were designed. This floor also integrates with the external area, through the suite's window and its planter, as a continuity of the garden.

The hydraulic plumbing and service spaces were located in the Northwest portion of the building in order to protect the internal spaces from excessive sunlight, as well as promoting greater flexibility in the arrangements of the spaces served (living rooms and bedrooms).

The structural system of the house is a mixed assembly, mainly made of reinforced concrete (a system of pre-molded lattice slabs supported by beams and pillars) and its roof is made of thermoacoustic tiles installed on steel metal beams.

More information

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Architects
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BIRI + Brener Lacerda. Lead architects.- Marcos Franchini, Nattalia Bom Conselho and Brener Lacerda.
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Project team
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Luiza Reis e Lima, Thomáz Marcatto, Vinicius Pinheiro.
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Collaborators
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Engineering projects.- Ana Luiza Breginski.
Execution.- Ed Contruções.
Steel Structure.- RP Estructuras Metálicas.
Frames and windows.- Alumafer.
Façade wood treatment.- Brener Lacerda.
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Area
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225.28 sqm.
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Dates
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June 2023.
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Location
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Condominio da Aldeia da Cachoeira das Pedras, Brumadinho - Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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Photography
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BIRI is an architecture studio based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; founded by Nattalia Bom Conselho, architect and urban planner graduated from PUCMinas (2014), specialist in Management and Practice of Cultural Heritage Conservation and Restoration Works by CECI/UFPE (2016), and since 2012 she has been working on heritage management, either in the form of technical reports or projects and intervention works on protected cultural assets; and Marcos Franchini, architect and urban planner graduated from PUCMinas (2010), with a master's degree in metal construction sciences from the (2017) and study in Product Design at the UEMG School of Design (2005-2009), he is currently a substitute professor at the EAUFMG, and since 2022 he has participated in the Levante collective.

It is an architecture studio involved in the construction of its projects and that believes in collective construction and tries to establish it in each project, which allows them to be in a continuous state of learning and evolution.
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Published on: July 28, 2023
Cite: "Valuing simplicity. Casa Maenduaba by BIRI + Brener Lacerda" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/valuing-simplicity-casa-maenduaba-biri-brener-lacerda> ISSN 1139-6415
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