Brazilian studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura has refurbished this apartment in Brasília built in the 1960s to meet a family’s contemporary requirements. The studio reconfigured the apartment’s standard layout, which split the main living areas into two separate spaces. In the updated layout the exposed concrete walls are cut open to form a single, shared space for the family to gather.
Hallways and social areas, including the kitchen, are no longer arranged separately and turns into one unit as if it were a large loft. The integration of the areas improves communication between the family since even if the residents are doing different activities they can share the same space.
Once the main rooms were facing the façades, now only the double, the daughter’s was located at the back of the building where natural light and ventilation come through a panel of cobogo.
In order to separate the intimate area from the social area a wooden bookcase divides these two environments that receive the family’s book collection and affective items, blind doors are arranged between the niches to access the couple’s bedroom suite, daughter’s bedroom and the guest toilet.
The granilite floor is a reference to the buildings of Brasilia, where the social area was always covered in this material, the concrete has its place in the furniture designed by architect Clay Rodrigues and in the exaltation of the apparent structure, including one of the pillars of the room is revealed and treated as a sculpture.
Corrugated glass in the kitchen, cabinet-making and design by the office itself, Le Corbusier’s palette-lined washbasin and furniture bring the air of midcentury at the same time as items such as the lighting rails, tensioned bathroom screens and mirrors the air more contemporary.
Thinking about family pets, access to a technical slab where the cobogos are located makes it easier for cats to get in and out of the litter box.
