Well, not exactly worth dying for, but perhaps died and gone to property heaven. Over the coming months, we are going to feature some of our favourite properties from around the world that inspire us. This comes alongside our intention to shortly start marketing the very occasional outstanding property for sale, outside of London and even overseas, but we intend to be incredibly selective as to the kind of property we represent.

Anyway, for this month, our 1st choice of Property to Die For. Marcio Kogan’s Panama House is a residence designed for art. Located in São Paulo, Brazil, the house makes a powerful but subdued statement in its low, open, elongated elegance — a hallmark of Kogan’s architecture.

All levels of the three-storey house — including the bedrooms, office, gardens and patio — are used to display the owner’s substantial collection of predominantly modern Brazilian art and sculpture. The site of Panamá house is located in one of the garden neighborhoods, just some blocks from Paulista, the financial center of the city of São Paulo.

The box form is Kogan’s favourite motif - occurs time and again but in carefully nuanced combinations: precisely planed concrete boxes within boxes and timber slatted boxes that open outwards towards a slimlined lap pool, perhaos with no dorrs to mark inside our outside. 

 

 

 

The elegant economy to Kogan’s use of columes translates to a very real sense of freedom. The result is airy, light-washed spaces that seem barely tethered to the ground, an apt escapist image perhaps for Sao Paulo’s congested megapolis 

The sliding vertical wood lathes that form the brise soleils for each room’s facade, are also an important part of establishing the prevailing openness. The brise soleils also provide comfort and privacy, and enable the control of the artworks’ exposure to direct sun. Most beautifully, they also create the soft play of light that matches the overall linear shapes — created by creases in window treatments, the floor boards, the rows of pillows on long sofas, the stone work outside — continuing the elongated language of the entire building.

The interior plan is organized into 3 floors and a sub-solo. Upon entering the lot, a tree-covered patio leads the guest to the door. A social hall distributes part of the program of the house: a library, vertical circulation, the utility rooms and the living room. From within the library you can see, in front of the exterior stone wall, a Maria Martins sculpture, reposing over a reflecting pool. The living room has large spans that open, in their entirety, to the garden, building a spatial continuity between interior and exterior. In the garden, the pool, mirrors the stones of the wall.

All in all, our of our top 10 houses in the world!