Do you ever imagine what the house of an art collector would look like? Maybe you will immediately think of a long corridor with artworks on either side – and you are almost always correct! Many collector’s houses are minimal; most of the times it is dominated with white walls, corridors, and open spaces so that your eyes would go to the artworks. When it is the case, it is often that the house is built around the artworks, not the other way around. This means that the house design will accommodate the artworks the collector already has or wants to put in the house. This is why such houses often look so well put together.
Let’s take a look at this private house, Vila Nova Conceicao, a 600 square meter house in Sao Paolo, Brazil, who is owned by a collector. This house looks exceptionally cozy and green because it opens up to the outside view.
The minimal design accommodates the many artworks and antiques the collector puts in the space. This is when Fernanda Marques, a Brazilian architect, came in to renovate the space into becoming this beautiful open house.
To create a green and breezy atmosphere, Marques creates an indoor outdoor swimming pool with panoramic view to the landscape. This 10 meter pool functions not only as a swimming pool but also as an indoor aquarium.
What is very intriguing about this space is the selection of furniture that is very eclectic but iconic. This is why Marques had to make the space as clean, as neutral, and as minimal as possible so that the focus would go to the items. We can see furniture pieces from Joaquim Tenreiro and Zanine de Caldas in the space. “I didn’t want the furniture to overwhelm the works of art, but rather to serve as support and counterpoint to them,” said Marques.
Almost at every corner, there is a unique furniture piece with a nice artwork on the wall. The placement of the items are not too spaced out so it does not look like a museum, but rather like a house full of art. This extends to the exterior as well. On the outside, Marques placed a wooden chair that also functions as a sculpture because of the iconic shape. The house is surrounded with green walls to allow for a nice air circulation but also for biophilia from inside the house.
Photo credits: fillippobamberghi
