Could this modern concrete and glass house have been the catalyst for the end of a marriage? Yes, according to a black and white movie made by Studio MK27, the architects behind the project (+ movie).
Studio MK27, the firm led by Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan, produced the short film to accompany its recent project Redux House – a single-storey holiday home in the exclusive Quinta da Baroneza neighbourhood, north of São Paulo.
Sandwiched between two horizontal concrete slabs, the building is made up of four box-like volumes. One of these is entirely glazed and accommodates an open-plan living space, while two others are timber clad, containing bedrooms. The fourth houses a garage.
In the film, a narrator tells the story of how the house caused the end of his marriage to a woman named Susannah. As he speaks, we see that the house now belongs to Susannah, who he says is "in love with" it.
"And who wants this kind of house? Cold, dull, without life. This was not my dream," he states, describing his own desire for a beautiful neoclassical project, rather than the "straight lines" preferred by his ex wife.
"It was either me or the house," he adds. "Susannah never had as much passion for me as she now has for those straight lines."
The house features a concrete swimming pool that extends out horizontally, even though the ground drops down underneath it. In the movie, the narrator describes this as his "only victory in the entire project after a lot of arguing".
"I bet Sussanah never went for a dip," he says, as we see her taking a swim.
Other details highlighted in the movie include floor-to-ceiling wooden doors, concrete columns, a fabric sofa and an Anglepoise lamp, although the narrator expresses how his preference was for velvet curtains, plaster mouldings and marble floors.
"There never was space for me there," says the narrator. "How could anyone be happy in that charmless wide open space?"
The movie was directed by photographer Pedro Kok and architect Gabriel Kogan, Marcio's son, who told Dezeen that the story they created was "entirely fictional".
"The idea was to intersect architecture with a narrative, making the space itself the central character. The human relationships here take place according to the architecture – they are transformed by it and they transform it," he said.
Casa Redux was completed in 2013. It has an area of just under 700 square metres.
Still photography is by Fernando Guerra.
Project credits:
Architecture: studio mk27
Architect: marcio kogan
Interiors: Diana Radomysler
Co-architect: samanta cafardo
Project team: beatriz meyer, carlos costa, laura guedes, mariana ruzante, mariana simas, oswaldo pessano, Suzana glogowski, Henrique Bustamante
Movie credits:
Conception: Studio MK27, Pedro Kok, and Gabriel Kogan
Direction: Pedro Kok and Gabriel Kogan
Music: “Dances and Dames” by Kevin Macleod
Assistant Director: Samanta Cafardo