Casa Modernista, Modern residence in Vila Mariana, Brazil
Casa Modernista is a single-storey house on Rua Santa Cruz in Vila Mariana, designed by Gregori Warchavchik and built in 1928. Its white walls and flat roof are partly hidden by trees; the visible facade has two rectangular windows with dark lattice grilles. A low white wall and a sign panel stand in front, and the left section is screened by a tree trunk and a dark vertical panel.
Architect Gregori Warchavchik designed this house in 1928 as one of the first modernist residential buildings in Brazil. The project helped introduce new architectural concepts to the country and opened the way for other buildings of this style.
Warchavchik named the house after the first modernist manifesto he wrote, "Acerca da Arquitetura Moderna". Its garden, laid out by his wife Mina Klabin, used tropical Brazilian species and is often called the country's first modern landscape project. The colonial roof tiles set against straight lines were meant to make the house look Brazilian.
The house stands on Rua Santa Cruz in Vila Mariana, set back behind a garden and a low white wall, so it is seen from the pavement rather than entered. The interior is private and not open to visitors; the facade, with its two grilled windows and flat roof, is partly screened by trees. The garden was planted with tropical species by Mina Klabin.
The house uses natural brightness through deliberate window placement that floods rooms with daylight while maintaining privacy. This strategy was novel at the time it was built and has since been repeated in many modern homes.
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