Articles by Valeria Silva

Montreal’s shoebox homes emerged on the outskirts of the city in tandem with the development of the tramway system at the beginning of the 20th century. The modest flat-roofed, single storey boxes were built as starter homes, often measuring no more than 600 square feet in area. The shoebox was usually a self-build, designed to be expanded upon in a piecemeal fashion as need and money arose. 

This residence represents a new architectural paradigm for the construction company and the neighborhood it is located.

Entreparotas house is a project which allows its users to live in a constant relation with nature, therefore the premise of choosing a site that would enhance the relevance of the existing flora and a small stream that passes through the terrain. A tropical vegetation, where the parotas and fig trees stand out, generates a jungle atmosphere that made the design concept possible.

The project is located in the Tena Valley, a territory recognized as the Ordesa-Viñamala Biosphere Reserve and one of the best representations of the Pyrenees mountain ecosystems. Sallent de Gállego is a small town of a thousand inhabitants at the source of the Gállego river that forms a network with other settlements in the area. This structure forms a complex territory in which the links that form the cultural, economic and productive structure of the place determine the starting conditions of the project.

The project had as a starting point the use of blocks of different shapes – material utilized in the construction industry and, depending on the manner it is worn, it might make the project more sophisticated.

Nowadays, life demands a kind of architecture that is primarily flexible, over one that is strictly functional. Household mutations is what defines the contemporary home, understood as a combination of indeterminate, ever-changing rituals. Every person’s home is the stage on which life unfolds, from the ordinary to the extraordinary; a haven, but also a space for leisure, and―why not―even a workplace.

‘Stackt Summer’ by StudioAC was commissioned as part of DesignTO, Canada’s largest annual design festival. The location for the piece is a courtyard located at Stackt Market which is a complex of shops, restaurants and services in downtown Toronto entirely built of shipping containers.

Located in Gravataí, southern Brazil, this work was developed to compose the leisure area of ​​an existing residence. Thus, this project organizes the following items: a pool, a deck and a kiosk, the latter being the central element of this composition.

ADAMANT, a psychiatric hospital rocked by the river. In the center of Paris, far from the usual soothing and protected care places, this building offers to patients an open space that looks more like artist studios than a hospital. A big house rocked by the river.