The project by Atelier Matteo Arnone proposes an interesting way of relating to the landscape, a wind machine that absorbs both the sea breeze and the winds that caress the dunes of this territory. Using a double geometry to create the house, on the one hand, a quadrilateral that houses hybrid spaces between patios, interiors and exteriors, and on the other a central core that rises above the previous one and in which the functional program of the house is located.
An important aspect both in plan and elevation is its layout to capture the natural ventilation that blows mainly from the east. The layout of the house and its permeable wall collect and reduce the wind to introduce it into the spaces of the house.
Casa Attico by Atelier Matteo Arnone. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
On the ground floor, the bedrooms are located in the four corners, open to patios whose geometry facilitates that all are ventilated equally. At the intersection of these courtyards is the centre of the house, a tower where the kitchen, dining room and spaces connected through an oculus to the upper floor, where there is an office and a living room, are located.
The wind rises between the two layers of bricks that make up the structure of the tower walls, creating natural ventilation through the façade. The process of ascension accentuates the feeling of having an intimate relationship with nature, reaching the top of the roof with a viewing platform to admire the landscape.
Casa Attico by Atelier Matteo Arnone. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Project description by Atelier Matteo Arnone
In the north-east of Brazil, on the shore of São Miguel do Gostoso supported by the softest things: the wind and the clouds, rises Casa Attico, one of the recent and characteristic projects of Atelier Matteo Arnone.
The influence of the morphology and its position connected to the wind has developed in the creator and client the will to imagine a new response to a completely new architectural solution. Therefore the core of the building rises just enough from the dunes to have a view of the sea and becomes a reference point for the landscape.
Observing both sections and plans of the house, we understand the willingness of Matteo Arnone to capture the natural ventilation that breaths all year for the east side and drive the ventilation of every space of the house. On the ground floor, the house is shaped as would be a wind machine. From the east side, the wind enters the patios and circulates geometrically according to the wall shapes, breaking the wind strength and ventilating the four symmetric bedrooms On the tower level the wind rises in between the two layers of the brickwork that composes the tower walls structure creating a natural ventilation of the façade.
The central kitchen faces four different patios, controls from the center of the ground floor, and symmetrical spaces creating the heart of the house and its living core. The kitchen is visually connected with the first floor by a circle opening to the living and office space. The more we rise the the more we get this private feeling of being isolated in the middle of the vast nature, till the last floor, a tiny space to admire the Landscape.
