2022
MCHAP
Truss House
Roberto Moita Arquitetos
Manaus, Brazil
January 2019
AUTOR PRINCIPAL
Roberto Moita
AUTOR CONTRIBUYENTE
Kauê Schreiner, Marcus Mesquita
CLIENTE
Germano Costa Andrade
FOTÓGRAFO
Maíra Acayaba
OBJETIVO
The program established the proposal to create a welcoming environment for a weekend home for a young family in full contact with Nature.
The project strategy aims to reduce the different impacts of the assembly of the work on the environment, from the architectural design, organization of the program, to the construction techniques adopted, the assembly system, the management of the topography and the intense existing natural forest.
The implantation in a single and compact block in the southern portion of the lot preserves the existing forest, with the upper side of the pool towards the north.
The sandy and wooded soil and with a low slope suggested the organization of the program in three levels, one for leisure, at the level of the public promenade, an upper one for the intimate area and another lower for guests.
The leisure and intimate spaces were arranged facing the forest and the predominant ventilation in the northeast direction, integrating them into a partially covered common space that benefits the view of the forest and the path of the moon and the sun.
CONTEXTO
The project of this House is developed based on our experiences and research of an authentic Brazilian and Amazonian contemporary architecture.
Located in Manaus, the largest metropolis in the Amazon region with more than two million inhabitants, this project investigates new paradigms and possibilities for coexistence between architecture, cities and the powerful Brazilian and Amazonian nature.
The land is located in a suburb of the city of Manaus surrounded by portions of the Amazon rainforest next to the Tarumã River, in a condominium dedicated to houses with standard lots always above 800sqm.
The preservation of the sandy soil covered with fallen leaves forming a fertile layer of plants was a starting point of the project. Topography management, taking advantage of existing unevenness to accommodate the program, was one of the central guidelines.
In this context, our mission was to demonstrate in practice the real possibility of coexistence between the needs of an urban house and nature.
ACTUACIÓN
A large covering of sandwich-type thermal metal sheets with wide eaves provides the necessary protection from the rain and sun of the Amazon. The leaf floor of the preserved forest provides a low-maintenance cost, high-permeability bedding, as well as natural nutrition for the trees.
The constructive strategy combines the use of steel, wood and concrete. A pair of structural trusses composed of laminated steel provides support the elevated prism of the rooms in a span of 14 meters, promoting great continuity of indoor and outdoor spaces on the leisure level and providing flexibility in the uses and layout of spaces.
The stairs and bathrooms are contained in a masonry box reinforced with concrete blocks that support the metal structure on one side, and on the other a pair of concrete pillars. The closing panels of the elevated prism, the floor of the intimate level, the decks and the ceiling of the leisure level are wooden material.
We are particularly interested in this poetics of bringing together traditional and industrial technologies, establishing a tectonic, constructive and tactile affinity, forming a mosaic that translates the spirit of Manaus, a city that is both industrial and forestry.
