In the tropics, the spaces bordering the inside and outside organize most of the dwelling practices. If the window has as its most basic task the orchestration of human events, in the tropics this function is amplified to include the entire façade. Considering the façade as a great window, Costa proposed an innovative way of thinking of architectural surface.The façade performs the basic functions of a window: it frames views of the surrounding landscape, illu- minates the interior, and allows the building to breathe; it mediates between exterior and interior, works like a loggia shading the façade, filtering light and letting the breeze flow.With these devices, Costa created an in-between spatiality in the façade itself, a space which belongs to the exterior and to the interior at the same time. He provided depth to the enclosure, but, seen from a distance this mem- brane seems to disappear.There is an effort to blur distinctions between solid and void, opacity and transparency.
To diffuse the excessive sunlight, Costa created a membrane of elements for solar protection, a unique combination of brises-soleil, venetian blinds, and latticed screens of prefabricated ceramic elements, called combogo.The wood was painted white, while the ceramic lattices were left in their reddish natural tones. Most of these elements were drawn from Moorish architecture, revived by the Portuguese when they arrived in the tropics. Costa attached this incredible network of sun shading devices to pure and prismatic volumes, creating an envelope, which has value on its own by its weight, texture and composition. Completely covered by panels of varied ele- ments and different textures, the façade is extremely elegant and achieves significance by itself.The interplay of variously transparent, translucent, and opaque elements dematerial- ize the façade in a brilliantly unified composi - tion, whose sheer variety defies monotony.
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