São Paulo Apartment by Luiz Solano Softens Original Brutalist Interior From 1960s
Bringing organic warmth and color to heavy industrial materials like stainless steel and concrete.
Brazilian architect Luiz Solano has unveiled his renovation of a São Paulo apartment located inside the Araucária Building, built in the 1960s by Rino Levi.
Cleared of its dividing walls, the now open plan space gives voice to Brutalist characteristics of the historic building but also invites a natural warmth through contemporary touches. While the original plan divided the apartment into three areas, Solano took down the internal masonry, leaving only functional closets as partitions.
The main living space holds the kitchen island, a raised planter and the building’s ventilation shaft — each of which are clad in chrome shells. The bold material is balanced out by the statement making ceiling, composed of stepped beams of raw concrete. Additionally, the floors, painted a warm white, help the silver details in distributing more light around the open space.
The closet partitions are painted in a warm shade of green, connecting the interiors to the greenery just outside of the development and in the raised planter, full of tropical foliage. Furniture and decor choices lean further into the natural with fluid textures provided by a large marble dining table and a circular rug featuring a lichen-like technicolor design.
See images of the renovation in the gallery above.
