ER Apartment | Pascali Semerdjian Architects

The ER apartment is a 376m² single floor located in São Paulo. At the social area, the dining room is integrated to the living room, surrounded by large balconies, which received landscaping project, custom wine cellar, kitchen with lunch room, and the tv room connecting the social area with the intimate area.

Besides the guest suite, isolated from the intimate area by a door, the project includes the couple's suite, with closet and bathroom, and the daughters' bedrooms with a toy room, closet, and common bathroom.

The social areas and guest suite occupy half of the apartment, while sliding doors allow private circulation between the three family bedrooms and the kitchen, an intimate sanctum within the larger context. The clients worked with the architects to develop social zones that are both deeply Brazilian and vividly cosmopolitan. In the entry hall, a hemicycle of light blazes through a panel of jade-color onyx, “like a sunset at the end of the corridor”.

The project is harmonious in terms of materiality, balanced and sober. Removing the worn plaster ceiling revealed an elegant original concrete ceiling of the building, which was left exposed in some rooms. The clients wanted wall space for a growing art collection; social areas that were generous but not palatial; avoidance of leather or synthetic fabrics; and sustainability certificates for every piece of wood used in the renovation. The goal: "A house proud of São Paulo," a city, he adds sadly, "that people love to hate."

The couple loves object design, just like us, so we took a lot of care and made some special designs for them, so the apartment would be unique and a different experience; for example the sink in the couple's bathroom, or the niche and closet at the entrance with its almost religious design, marking the entrance of a familiar sacred space. Other special elements are the onyx panel in the living room with a built-in light fixture and the special design of the kitchen cabinet.

The project also stands out for a unique and special curation of iconic and experimental design pieces from Brazilian and international designers. Some of the pieces used are a customized cocktail table that joins an OscarNiemeyer chaise longue, a double-sided Siri stool by Claudia Moreira Salles, and a pair of vintage Svante Skogh armchairs and a vintage Kurt Østervig lounge chair in the living room.

In the dining room we used vintage Erik Buch chairs, Bertjan Pot's Prop Light pendants hanging from the original exposed ceiling and a wall sculpture by the Brazilian-Polish artist Franz Krajcberg. Stools by Alvar Aalto.

Works by Brazilian artists—Ana María Tavares, Gabriela Costa, and Matias Mesquita - line the entry hall. In the couple’s suite an artwork by Katrin Korfmann joins a Zanine Caldas armchair and a rare vintage floor lamp attributed to Hans Bergström, as well as a photograph by Luiza Ladeira Lavorato.

The photos were made by Fran Parente and Image Production by Victor Correa.