This is my all time favourite house. Why? My dream house would look really private and small from the road leading up to it, opening its space out into the outdoors. It would be like a box and have one of its side glassed and be able to open entirely. It would look simple and understated. Isn't the Gamma Issa House all that already? A big plus point is that it resembles the Farnsworth House but with a lot more space.
It is designed by architect
Marcio Kogan in collaboration with a few artists. Gama Issa is a modern sustainable house which despite the concrete block which forms the house has a transparency between the garden, the parallelogram pool that runs along the house, and the interior of the house. The transparency of the house is achievable through the large sliding glass panels which serve as a wall and have magnificent views of the garden and the pool. Natural day light and ventilation are available throughout the entire house.
Marcio Kogan wrote an article about the inspiration of the house:
"São Paulo, January 21, 2002 // text by Marcio Kogan
It is ten o`clock at night. Very hot. I use this moment of rare calm and solitude to design the new house. I look through the window and parked in front of the building is a BMW X5. A young man of about 27 slides out of the car with a stunning blonde fearfully clutching her Prada bag. An almost-black, almost-beggar approaches asking if he can watch the car for R$ 5,00. They go into a Japanese restaurant. On the radio, which I will turn off within ten seconds, there is talk of the most recent kidnapping and a prison rebellion. I read my notes of the first meeting with the clients, a couple in advertising. We spoke of an enormous library in the living-room with double high ceilings, enormous windows opening completely to the garden, a pool 3 x 30m, a kitchen with an orange lunch table in the center, two symmetric marble staircases lit by focused natural light, a precisely detailed work studio, spaces of rare and elegant proportions which always relate to the exterior differently, white textures, an Eero Aarnio ball club chair, minimalism, the 60’s, electronic music, Stockhausen Cage, the latest issue of Visionaire magazine, a recipe for spaghetti al mare and finally “My Uncle” by Jacques Tati.
I think of a single enormous volume wrapping everything: a white box. In São Paulo, we don’t need to be concerned about environmental coherence; it is total chaos, the most absolute chaos. In this city, the world’s ugliest, which overflows energy, vibrant like no other, loved and hated, anything that is projected will be totally integrated into the city. Ah, yes, don’t let me forget an enormous wall protecting the house, covered in natural wood (maybe from the last tree of the Amazon), and which, certainly, will be completely covered by graffiti, giving the final touch in perfect harmony with the environment.
From a humble architect of the third world."
Case Study #8, Eames House by Ray and Charles Eames.
Case Study #9, Entenza House by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen.
Interior of the Entenza House.
Blue Print for Case Study #18A, West House by Rodney Walker.
Case Study #21 By Pierre Koenig.
Case Study #22, Stahl House By Pierre Koenig.
