How to Transform a Closed Space into a Light-Filled Home? | Tangerine House by EIXO Z Arquitectos
- Arq. Jenny Torres
- Oct 28
- 5 min read
AUTHOR: Jenny Torres
Passionate about reinterpreting the relationship between history and contemporaneity.
PROJECT NAME: Tangerine House
ARCHITECTS: EIXO Z arquitetos
PHOTOGRAPHY: Miti Sameshima
LOCATION: Sao Paulo, Brazil
YEAR: 2022
SQM: 220 SQM
There are different building typologies for housing. In Latin America, among the most traditional is the typology we'll discuss today: party walls. Who hasn't faced a project to develop on a lot located between two other buildings?
At some point, we've all faced those adjoining buildings and the challenges they face, regardless of the country where the project is implemented. Therefore, we'll analyze the strategies applied for the Tangerine House by the Brazilian architecture firm EIXO Z in order to provide you with some tips that will solve these traditional problems.
4 most common architectural challenges
1. Lack of lighting and ventilation?
Flanked by walls on the longest side of the house, it's impossible to create openings, so we find spaces with limited access to natural light and cross ventilation; only from the front or rear facades. This limits the environmental quality of the spaces inside, especially in the central area.
Therefore, passive lighting and ventilation strategies to improve energy efficiency are essential. They can be incorporated into the design, such as interior patios, skylights, atriums, or vents that allow light and ventilation.
Casa Tangerina features a central atrium adjacent to a patio, as well as floor-to-ceiling openings on the patio facades. Uniform natural lighting and cross ventilation are also achieved with a more porous main facade comprised of vents and a rear facade set back from the edge of the lot by a patio adjacent to the kitchen.
2. Small spaces? Poor adaptability?
Previously, many terraced houses had rigid layouts, with small, poorly connected spaces delimited by walls that were mostly part of the structure. Today, with technological developments, we can integrate other solutions that allow for better spatial distribution, allowing us to reorganize or configure spaces, open larger openings, or even eliminate walls altogether.
The "open-plan" design with an independent structure facilitates future expansions or changes in the layout. In Casa Tangerina, the arrangement of pillars on the side walls eliminates interior barriers, allowing for open and flexible spaces that adapt to modern needs, where patios or terraces can be incorporated in the future as bedrooms or common areas.
An example of this is spaces like the bar and the second-floor terrace, designed for social or recreational activities, aligning with contemporary needs for flexibility and conviviality that could be modified in the future if necessary by the owners.
If you require greater adaptability in your project, remember that the spaces can be reconfigured with movable partitions, furniture, sliding walls, or even, as Casa Tangerina does, by integrating a large patio that virtually divides the uses on the same floor.
3. Limited relationship with the outside world?
Loss of privacy?
Depending on where the home is located, it must address the immediate surroundings to create a city and foster a sense of belonging and community living. Older party walls often have closed facades, which reduce the possibility of direct connections with gardens or open areas, disconnecting the home from its urban and natural surroundings.
Therefore, terraces, balconies, or gardens are implemented on the front and rear facades. The front facade combines a brise-soleil design with solid bricks that allow privacy while simultaneously filtering light, creating a controlled visual connection with the street.
On the other hand, the use of terraces and balconies maximizes interaction with the exterior from within the home itself. Keep in mind in your design that the proximity to neighboring buildings can create problems with direct views into the home.
For this last point, you can play with the levels of the home, opting for half-levels or double-heights. Other solutions include lattices, movable panels, green walls or vegetation, circulation areas as a visual barrier, pergolas, translucent roofs, or frosted or tinted materials.
4. Unaesthetic facade?
The facades of houses of this type usually have small openings or little formal movement on the facade, which, being the only visible element of the exterior, requires a design that combines functionality and visual appeal.
The office seeks constructive rationalization and the use of contemporary techniques to ensure the building's economic viability, as well as the consolidation of a more sustainable and public city. Therefore, they play with materials, textures, volumes, and colors to give character to the façade. The use of exposed materials such as brick, concrete, and wood creates a modern and sustainable appearance while preserving a warm, artisanal texture reminiscent of traditional buildings.
The materials used in older buildings may be worn, with inefficient finishes, or outdated, but this doesn't mean they all need to be replaced. You can creatively reuse what you already have if it's in good condition.
On the facades, don't forget to consider local regulations regarding heights, setbacks, and materials.
Architectural challenges can become creative opportunities by promoting innovative or customized solutions. Having a shared house doesn't mean that all homes should be rebuilt like this case study, or that all common architectural elements are problematic—far from it. Therefore, I will highlight some of the elements I find interesting in this building typology.
By sharing walls, homes have less exposure to the outside, which helps maintain more stable interior temperatures; this translates into greater thermal efficiency.
In some cases, this type of building is designed to expand vertically over time, adapting to the needs of families and thus opting for progressive growth with greater use of the land. That is why within the category of party walls, we can also find a variety of types; these can be presented in the form of single-family homes, duplexes, or apartment buildings.
Vertical growth allows for the integration of commerce on the ground floor. These cases are mainly seen in traditional neighborhoods or in modern housing complexes that seek to densify central areas and boost the economy.
Although some countries have developed regulations limiting the height and expansion of these homes to maintain the harmony of the surroundings.
Our case study today is just one example of how to revitalize old terraced houses using a contemporary, functional, and sustainable approach; it's an option to take advantage of existing resources, develop your creativity, and protect the planet and your wallet.
The Tangerina house, despite being unfamiliar with its immediate surroundings, is highly valued for its concern with creating comfortable spaces. The central courtyard is what creates interaction between the people who live there, as well as with the adjacent spaces. Thanks to the floor plan layout, it is possible to create a permeable floor, generating a certain spaciousness. On its second floor, it creates spaces that prioritize privacy and the visual connection between the different levels. On its top floor, it creates flexible common spaces that allow for a visual connection between the interior and the exterior, thus recognizing the project's identity of being highly interiorized, yet with the sensation of being in an outdoor space.
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