Salgado House

As the site is located in a tight urban context the architect opted to manipulate modern architectural principles in his design concept to ensure that the building will sit well within the given context as well as adapt seamlessly to the tropical climate. Taking a leaf out the book of minimalism, the architect has used concepts such as simplicity, clean lines, materiality and detailing to strengthen the main concept of modernity. The structure is a minimal structure, neat in detailing, open and free flowing, making the design far more than just a concept.  Space allocation was a major concern in a tight urban setting and the architect has shown his skill in creating spaces with pleasant spatial progression which flows throughout the whole building.

As you enter the building, an entrance lobby is created as a transition space so that prominence is given to the spatial quality of the living area, the main space of the building. This ensures a gradual transition to the main volume, allowing for an uninterrupted experience of the main space. The living, dining and the kitchen spaces all designed together in conjunction with the openness of the living room make the main space prominent in design. It is with skill that the architect has linked the subspaces and the gradual transition to the main spaces that have allowed for a unique spatial planning, strengthening the progressive modernist concepts of design.

The void created by the U-shaped building has been used as a space for the swimming pool, which is designed as the key element of the house. The other spaces of the house have been spun around the swimming pool making this the heart of the design. This positioning is intentional as now it is visible to all the other spaces of the house.

The main space of the living area directly opens out to the swimming pool creating a soothing atmosphere connecting both inside and outside. External and internal spatial relationship has been strengthened by this space allocation. Considering stack effect as a practical implementation, this space allocation has ensured the internal thermal comfort levels are maintained as the swimming pool will facilitate evaporative cooling to the inside spaces.

Daylight integration as well as embracing natural ventilation into the house was purely done by the usage of large openings. Even though the windows are comparatively large, the architect has intention ally reduced the thickness of the window sashes to create internal and external penetration, effective as it reduces visual barriers. The design plays with the solid void segregation quite effectively as it opens out to the swimming pool from one side as the other opens out towards the garden. This space allocation has made sure that the house will be fully naturally ventilated as the architect has thought of generating cross ventilation through his design. The front façade of the house opens out to the garden and brings daylight into the house.

The architectural language of the house highlighting the details and materiality express the simplicity of the structure. Key elements like the swimming pool, the living feature wall at the back, elemental pantry in the kitchen, ornamental furniture, luminaires and the artworks have made the spaces unique and lifted the quality of the whole house.

"The architectural language of the house highlighting the details and materiality express the simplicity of the structure."

The color gray has been used by the architect as a finishing color of the house.  This was also done to reduce the internal reflection of light during daytime. If not for the vast open spaces created within the house, it would have been uncomfortable for the users due to excess intake and reflection of daylight. This shows the architectural implementation in the design has been utilized to gain maximum productivity in the building. This makes the internal spaces soothing to the eye during the daytime. The gray tones are accompanied by brown and black tones used in highlights in certain details, which all blend together well. Timber variations have been used for the features and the flooring in some areas. The architect discussed with the client on the execution of this flooring, which was suggested by the client to be used to blend in well with the rest of the color palette of the house. Creating a cement panel wall as the exterior wall which will look alike, the fair face concrete finish has been done implementing simple lines and textures to create a modern external feature.  The simple architectural implementation like space allocation, spatial progression, material usage and architectural detailing have made this house simple in design and detailing, yet elegant in its simplicity.

"The architectural language of the house highlighting the details and materiality express the simplicity of the structure."