The Casa Olga Baeta is undoubtedly one of the more playful modernist homes we have encountered. Originally built in 1957 and located in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, it was designed by the great Brazilian modernist architect João Batista Vilanova Artigas.
Earlier this year we featured a much larger development from the Brazilian architect, the faculty of architecture building of the University of São Paulo, which he built in collaboration with Carlos Cascaldi.
This one is a joyous celebration of primary colour, with red for the window frames and chairs in the living room; blue for the supporting pillars and tiled floor in the living room; and yellow for the sofa in the living room and many of the walls.
Perhaps most pleasing in this effort are the aforementioned red window frames, standing out, bold and striking, holding together the whole front of wall of windows looking out onto the garden.
It is surprising, in a way, that red is not used in this way more often, it really draws attention to the impressive engineering necessary for having an entire side of a house to transparency. It is certainly something we would like to see a lot more of.
