Casa Viva

We were inspired by Cradle to Cradle® to create the Casa Viva project, which was among the finalists in the National Architecture Competition – Casa da Sustentabilidade – home of COMDEMA in Lagoa do Taquaral – Campinas, organized by IAB Campinas. The project was carried out in co-authorship by Léa Gejer, Katia Sartorelli Verissimo, Marilia Rondinelli Boccia, Marta Levy and Thiago Reple and in collaboration with Andre Gambini, Fernando Pinheiro Boccia and Felipe Pinheiro.

To inhabit is to intentionally transform nature, endowing it with meaning and value – and the house is the product of this transformation. Casa Viva is located in Portugal Park, Taquaral Lagoon, in Campinas, Brazil, and proposes another way of living – consciously and integrated to nature, and combining leading sustainable technologies with the Brazilian vernacular building knowledge. Casa Viva is a space for abundance provision, life maintenance and human health improvement.

The adopted technical solutions are always on display and the entire system is designed in a circular form. The wastes from one process are understood as food for the next stage and therefore the concept of waste itself does not exist. In every block buildings, water and nutrients are part of a closed loop that integrate themselves with the surrounding and nature. Sun and wind are used up to their maximum potential, either by reducing consumption, passively, through the use of cross ventilation, ventilation ducts and indirect lighting; or by producing energy with photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Food production – that is scattered in the developed area – is also an energy-producing manner that together with regional ornamental plants, support a wide range of species.

By mimicking natural systems, the integrated water, energy and nutrients systems positively support the site, and are able to connect Casa Viva with Taquaral Park. The water treatment technologies, which use plants and animals as infrastructure, are exposed on the surface area of the green square and provide a new relationship between humans and the environment. These technologies make the regenerative power of natural systems visible, whilst they requalify the landscape, reducing the velocity of water runoff and generating aesthetic and comfort benefits.

Casa Viva goes beyond sustainability: it is a place of abundance and generation of biodiversity and maintenance of healthy living.