Appearing to float above the slopes of Bragança Paulista, just one hour’s drive north of São Paulo, and designed by renowned Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan and his practice Studio MK27, Casa Redux surely encapsulates the idea of a dream retreat.
Located in Quinta da Baroneza where some of Brazil’s wealthiest have their holiday abodes, Casa Redux (translates into ‘reduced’) owes its name to its design concept. The project brief was simple: to design a vacation house with the least lines and elements possible. Facing west onto the soft hilly landscape at its feet and respecting the topography’s natural contours, the house sits at the area’s highest point.
By designing a house around a single, strong architectural gesture – the structure’s floating concrete slab ‘sandwich’ form – Kogan and his team created a healthy dialogue between the house and its natural environment that makes for a perfect getaway from Brazil’s bustling urban centres.
With an average annual wind speed of 6m/s this makes it an ideal area to install an Enessere Hercules wind generator, where the power generated can be stored in latest generation batteries or to produce hydrogen to then be stored and converted through a fuel cell to generate electricity on demand when needed. Also useful to power gardens, pathways and pool lighting.