Juranda House comes from ApiacasArquitetos and is a contemporary house with an ingenious architecture. The house covers an area of 150 square metres in RuaJuranda, Vila Beatriz, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Even though it has quite an ample ground, it was purposefully designed to be efficient in the use of space, limiting the building’s dimensions to include only necessary living space. The result is a compact yet comfortable and beautiful home.
The front face of the house is totally dominated by glass. Instead of a conventional front door, the house can be entered through a three meters wide floor-to-ceiling sliding glass pane, and when this glass pane is slid shut, the house looks like it has no wall at all. The faces of the upper levels are also taken up with similar floor-to-ceiling sliding glass panes. To allow privacy, there are wooden doors that can be unfolded to cover the glass panes.The interior of the house looks modern but natural, since floor, ceiling, and furniture are dominantly made of wood. The lighting is also pleasant, with a yellow tone at night and plenty of sunlight during the day.
Because of the sloping ground on which it stands, the house is organized into several half levels, so this house can be said to have five levels, while actually it is just about as tall as a house that has three stories. On the first half-level we have a living room, a kitchen and a dining room that can accommodate eight people. The second half-level is allocated for a sitting room that consists of a fire place, a chaise longue, and several little benches. The third half-level has two bedrooms in it, while another bedroom and an office are located on the fourth half-level. The office is especially interesting. It is nestled on a narrow space, with a bookshelf behind it and a low glass wall directly in front of the desk. The desk itself is narrow but long, enough for two people, and when you sit on the desk you can see the cityscape view outside through the huge glass panes at the other side of the house. At the other side of that glass pane, there is an outdoor wooden ‘deck’ that is quite spacious. It’s such an interesting and clever architecture, don’t you agree?