Bahia House in Salvador, Brazil

December 26, 2010 Category: House, Residential

Bahia House that located in Salvador, Brazil, was designed by Studio MK27. These Bahian houses have roofs of clay – a banal material made in a rustic manner – and wooden ceilings. The openings have large panels of wooden Mashrabiyas brought to Brazil by the Portuguese colonial architecture since the first centuries of its occupation of the American territories, and its origin is of an Arabian cultural influence. These wooden panels provide vast comfort to the interior. The traditional bahian house uses the northeastern wind blowing in from the sea to organise the floor plan and has cross ventilation in its principal spaces, always making the interior cool and airy.

The Bahia House uses all these elements that are traditional to Brazilian houses. These adjustments of the Portuguese house to a tropical climate were always studied and applied by modernism in Brazil. The result in this case is a very pleasant house, where the interior protects from the hot and sunny climate outdoors. The floor plan is entirely organised around a central patio, making the cross ventilation in all the spaces possible and a view that looks in, to a grassed garden and two exuberant mango trees.

Bahia House design by Studio MK27