Minimod Catuçaba
Fazenda Catuçaba, SP, Brazil
2015
MINIMOD is a project, technological and experiential exploration. It is presented as the primitive coat with a contemporary reinterpretation.
This old Fazenda is located in the east of São Paulo Estate surrounded by a chain of coastal mountains. With ondulating landscapes and dense vegetation, its captivating views invites the user be explored. Catuçaba`s MINIMODs move away from the old central house and seek the perfect terrain for being introduced. On top of a hill, on the edge of a small pond, near a stream or at the bottom of a valley; each adapts to its new landscapes and empowers them.
MINIMOD is a device that connects us with our deepest roots: nature, time, landscape. Its dense and compact design dialogues with the places where it is installed, enhances them, and turns them into available landscapes.
MINIMOD is not a finished project, as many as we can imagine can be created. Based on a systemic logic of customizable combinable modules, it allows the choice and composition of the modules that best adapt to each new landscape and user, as well as offering the option of choosing exterior finishes and equipment. The possibilities are endless!
The cross in the landscape, a strategic position of all time, is located at the top of a slope of the farm. Thus, each space of the refuge faces a different cardinal point. Circular experience of the surrounding nature: sunrise, day, sunset and night; spring, summer, autumn, winter and again, spring...
With its back to the neighborhood trail, and open towards the small lagoon to the south of the farm, the shelter appears among the native vegetation. Using the same number of modules as the cross, but arranged linearly, it is placed parallel to the slope of the nose, which it integrates through a deck to which it expands.
MINIMOD aims to be an alternative to traditional construction, incorporating all the advantages that the industry can offer us: greater precision, greater speed, less waste generation and, above all, greater environmental responsibility. Its CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) technology consists of an industrialized, durable and sustainable system of solid panels of treated reforested wood. It thus combines the efficiency of the industrialized product, the sustainability of new technologies and the sensitivity of the natural material par excellence.
A plug&play device is one that we receive quickly to connect and use without complications. As such, the steps required to install and enjoy a MINIMOD should be simple and quick. From the factory to the landscape.
★ Award of the Association of Art Critics of Sao Paulo 2018. Technological Innovation. São Paulo, Brazil
★ Ibero-American Biennial Award for Architecture and Urbanism 2016
★ Selection Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, IIT, Chicago, USA
Authors: Luciano Andrades, Matías Carballal, Rochelle Castro, Andrés Gobba, Mauricio López, Silvio Machado
Project Team: Pablo Courreges, Diego Morera, Emiliano Lago, Mauricio Müller, Camilla Pereira.
Phography (Work): Leonardo Finotti ©photo@leonardofinotti.com
Phography (Prefab): André Turazzi
Phography (Lifestyle): Fazenda Catuçaba | E. Rengade
Construction: CG Sistemas
Hydraulic Project: Eng. Júlio César Troleis
Electrical project: Eng. Ari Martins Colares