Although this apartment is situated in a modernist building constructed in the late ‘60s, in the heart of the bustling Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, you wouldn’t know it after crossing the threshold.
Designed by Juliana Lima Vasconcellos with a reconfigured open space that integrates the outdoors and indoors, it feels more like a house than an apartment. Being on the first floor of the complex helped, as the home has the luxury of being surrounded by an open private area.
Juliana turned the outside area into a spacious garden complete with a pool, wooden deck, and plenty of verdant greenery for shade to create some privacy from the surrounding buildings. The effect created was that of living in a tropical villa. “[The garden] softens the coldness of the concrete in the surroundings,” she says.
Such a beautiful view should be appreciated from as many angles as possible – which is why Juliana opened up the rest of the home. Her team also built a new pavilion to house the dining room and gourmet kitchen to cater to the homeowners’ lifestyle, as they love to host parties, cook for friends, and stay active.
The team encountered several structural elements that had to be worked around during the reconfiguring of the space. This led to solutions such as building a shelf cabinet and wooden benches to conceal elements such as columns and inverted beams.
To create a seamless visual flow throughout Juliana used plenty of wooden features that echo the surrounding greenery, such as the live-edge mahogany coffee table in the living room and the timber flooring of the living room, which was also used on the ceiling of the pavilion as a visual connection.
The interiors and furniture are a celebration of Brazilian design. “We mixed and matched design brands that do not exist anymore but were an important part of the Brazilian furniture design history,” shares Juliana. “You’ll find furniture from L’Atelier, Cimo, Forma, Teperman, and Sergio Rodrigues.”
Although the overall palette is mainly composed of neutrals, the team injected colour via key pieces like the Bordeaux-red sofa, the green Cimo armchair, as well as the Rodrigo de Castro and Siron Franco art pieces hanging on the wall.
Art plays a crucial role in elevating the home and adding visual impact, with the spotlight very much on Brazilian artists. “The goal of this project was to obtain a balance between time periods, bringing in some colour and prioritising Brazilian works of art from artists such as Amilcar de Castro, Rodrigo de Castro, Siron Franco, Hercules Barsotti, and Dan Fialdini,” shares Juliana.
One of the homeowners’ favourite pieces is a solid wood monkey sculpture by a local artisan, which they had discovered on a trip to the countryside of Minas Gerais.
The overall design and renovation process took ten months, with most of it devoted to the conceptualisation.
“We mixed strong pieces that represent Brazilian design over many decades together with contemporary function, and the result is a very tropical and welcoming home,” says Juliana.
CREDIT: FILIPPO BAMBERGHI
This article was previously published on Home&Decor.