Leonardo Marchesi | Architecture | Espaço de Arquitetura

Leonardo Marchesi – House in Luxor

Publicado em 27 de Outubro, 2021 por Leonardo Marchesi

Leonardo Marchesi – Memorial for Taoudenni

Publicado em 27 de Outubro, 2021 por Leonardo Marchesi

Leonardo Marchesi – Sunrays

Publicado em 27 de Outubro, 2021 por Leonardo Marchesi

Leonardo Marchesi – Tindaya

Publicado em 27 de Outubro, 2021 por Leonardo Marchesi

Categorias: Arquitetos Rendering

Leonardo Marchesi is an Italian Award-winning Architect, designs homes that stimulate an essential way of living, most of the designs are conceived with an open-minded research approach which leads to a careful gesture.

After several years of experience in prestigious international architecture firms, in both Lisbon and London, Leonardo decided in 2020 to start his own studio in the remote village of Ribamar, Ericeira (Portugal), where he currently lives.

Along with Architecture develops an interest in Digital Art, he launched a series of NFT called Desert Sessions, he is also part of the exclusive platform Foundation as an NFT creator, where he explores the relationship between photography, 3d modelling, and rendering; from time to time helps other Architects visualize their own projects and has a YouTube channel where he diffuses more contents.

Amongst the early successes of the young practice, there are publications on Ignant, Casabella, Imagicasa, Afasia, Archdaily, the participation at the SIA Guest in Rimini a Podcast with Chalmette Ray, an exhibition at the Cultural Center of Vila do Bispo and the 1st Prize of Young Architects Competitions.

Leonardo received the Bachelor Degree in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in 2012 and Master Degre at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (Portugal) in 2014, is a fully licensed Architect in Portugal, and can’t wait to design your home anywhere it might be.

Morada

Rua Central 8, Santo Isidoro
Ribamar
2640-008 Mafra

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HOUSE IN LUXOR

Luxor, Egypt
Concept Design
Internal Area: 150 sqm

Total floor area: 600 sqm

Luxor is a modern city built on the foundations of Thebes, the ancient Egyptian capital of the New Kingdom. The whole city was built on the east bank of the Nile, where the pharaohs decided at some point to build a gigantic temple complex dedicated to Amun.
The site was always under the construction eyes of the pharaohs, since the pharaohs use to build their homes in brick, (stone was dedicated to temples and tombs), thus not much has been left of ancient royal palaces.
The House in Luxor sits on an island, isolated from the noise of the city and aim to reverse the housing construction tradition; a house built with gigantic blocks of stone secured in place by gravity alone.
For this reason, the House has two levels: the ground level where the first blocks sit directly on the foundations and the top level where the stones have a reduced thickness (to avoid overload of foundations).
Since the stone elements need a stable form to work together, the House has a cross-like shape and is absent of any internal wall. The idea is to create a house that stands the test of time, where people could still find its stone walls centuries into the future.
The colour of the stone is pink-red, which works to complement the existing colour palette of the landscape: blue sky, green vegetation, yellow sandy ground and, therefore, a red house.
The open character of the space together with the 3,2x3,2m openings gives a level of flexibility to the house such that it can be used in infinite ways. For this reason, there is not a specific function of the spaces - only in the kitchen can be found a fixed island - allowing the house to change with the people that are inhabiting it.
Skylights are located at the corner of the spaces to help natural ventilation whilst the four doors also work as windows, limiting the heat on the inside and therefore the need for artificial ventilation. The house would be experienced with no electricity, therefore artificial lights come from candles, and instead of having an electric oven, the kitchen has a grill. A swimming pool on the south side is a relaxing extension of the great Nile, populated by crocodiles.
A house that wants to be a temple.

HOUSE IN MAGOITO

Magoito, Portugal
Concept Design
200 sqm

(with Gonçalo Duarte Pacheco)

The terrain is located close to the sea, in a plot that used to belong to a broader land populated by sea pine trees, in the heart of the little town of Magoito.
The program of the project is divided into two main areas, a private sunrise area (bedrooms, studio, toilets), and a common sunset area (kitchen and living).
The roof is pitched and forms both the exposure needed for the solar panels and the tall ceiling height requested by the clients, a veranda provide the main source of light to the sunset area, and the setback from the neighbour’s walls forms the entrance and the garden.
A house that is an abstraction of a barn.

HOUSE IN COLARES

Colares, Portugal

Concept Design

400 sqm

A private weekend house, on the coast of Portugal, in the Parque Natural de Sintra-Cascais, just between the Lighthouse of Cabo da Roca and the Santuário da Peninha.

The site is a cliff facing the Atlantic ocean, and the topography is a platform for contemplation. The plan of the house is based on the manipulation of a Romanic chapel, a single space.

When it comes to the openings, 3.2m squared windows frames the landscape and let light invading the core of the space. The orientation of the house begun with East-West direction as per religious reference, then rotated back to align with the existing path on-site, favouring the passage towards down the cliff.

As the house would be for short living periods, it has one single point of fire: the fireplace, and one single point of water: the tank.

A house that is a chapel.

HOUSE IN THE FORT

Sesimbra, Portugal

Concept Design

300 sqm

Located on the south coast of the Parque Natural da Arrábida-Sesimbra, the Fort of São Domingo da Baralha is the first defensive construction that has been built, possibly around 1665, with the purpose of defending the Setubal port and its coast.

The building was once home to three army deposits, a water tank and a defensive platform, currently, in ruin, the platform is used by fishermen, the water tank is no longer functional and one portal is still left from the service areas.

The idea for a fisherman home in this fort came after its surprising discovery on a day trip done close by the close by Cabo Espichel lighthouse.

The idea is to conserve the original stone walls by inhabiting the ruin with a new stone volume replacing the water tank and offering a more accessible platform/terrace, the stone volume is recessed from the historical walls allow circulation and a new outdoor space from which enjoying the last hours of the day.

HOUSE IN CAPARICA

Costa de Caparica, Portugal

Concept Design

40 sqm

Costa da Caparica is a piece of land that every Lisboner and tourist passing the 25th April bridge knows very well, and in a way, it could be considered the beach of the city of Lisbon, although it doesn’t belong to the same administration.

The beginning of this piece of land is quite clear it starts with the São João beach, what is less clear is its endpoint; if we are to walk the Costa we would arrive the Cabo Espichel without feeling a true discontinuity of the territory, made by rock, sand, water, wind and light.

As we can’t really tell where exactly it ends, the urban model of concrete towers could potentially be applied to all Costa until Cabo Espichel, and if that was the case, we could end up with the loss of the natural feeling of this land. This long beach is inhabited by several fishermen huts, some of them rentable some just abandoned landmarks, but there are other inhabitants of this land which are more nomadic, people coming from Lisbon spend their nights in a tent just behind the beach, in a way, we could consider this territory very much inhabited by nomadic tents and huts.

This house is an attempt to combine the fishermen hut with the camping tent and try to get the best of both worlds, the lightness and versatility of the tend with the stability of a hut. The shape of the Beach House is a “replica” of the volume of the existing fishermen huts but materically adapted to get the lightness feeling of a tent. The house will be for short living periods, people coming from Lisbon or tourists, in general, could spend their beach day having the luxury of a stable platform on the beach protected from the sun rays and wind, and when it comes to the night time the house could be easily spent enjoyed with the heat of a fire burning at the back under the stars, hearing the ocean breathing.

As this house is meant for short living periods, there would be no electricity needs as it would help be lived more as light tend, with the benefit of a fixed toilet, the only internal volume of the house. The construction is quite simple, two concrete columns in the sand, a metal frame holding the timber floor and the tend.

YOGA POD 2

Ho Chi Minh City, Vientam

Built

540 sqm

The project consists of a new yoga studio located in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, that was developed in two distinctive phases. The first consisted of developing a concept without a site yet chosen. As requested by the clients, the only guidelines were an estimated floor area and the fact that it had to be on a rooftop.

This particular building had a setback from the street which is rare and created a pleasant transition between the road and the building itself. In terms of architecture, it was noticeable that it suffered some mutations over the years but with some decorative elements and brown timber windows still present. After observing these features, the first decision was to enhance and reveal the most characteristics of original elements but not excluding the possibility to add a new contemporary/historical layer in it. It was quickly understood that the existing structure is quite delicate and that the architecture, with its very rigid concrete grid, had to be stripped from additions that were not considered valuable.

The new concept design responds with minimal interventions to the structure, opening the floor plans as much as the structure would allow and working with light, materials and colours to attain a unique atmosphere for the yoga practitioners to achieve a mindful and peaceful state of mind and internal silence. This also gave the opportunity to the clients to expand the programmatic diversity of the project. The ground floor was entirely dedicated to a healthy meal restaurant and the entrance hall to the yoga studio. Coming up the stairs the first floor is presented with a curved semi-transparent white velvet curtain that defines the circulation space and the flexible limits of the yoga room allowing both privacy and passage through the stairs; at one side the big existing timber windows offer sunlight to the reception area and at the other side, a small lightwell defines the entrance to the toilets and changing rooms. A new terrace has been added to the front façade, echoing the interior curtains and allowing the yoga room to be extended the outside, as well as serving, has a canopy to the main entrance on the ground floor. A small wellness area is located at the back of the building behind the main shelves containing a sauna and massage / private yoga room.

The second floor begins just like the first floor with the same curved curtains, but the yoga room reveals a surprisingly high pitched ceiling, ideal for climate control in a tropical country. The material palette has been thought to help in terms of the use of space and help on focusing during the practice. Light-grey micro cement was selected for a flat continuous floor, chalky bone shade finish walls define the limits of the space and white lacquered shelves and wardrobes are a source of artificial light as well as storage facilities. Upon completion, the project will represent a way to address the rapid transformation of the urban fabric of Ho Chi Minh City, balancing conservation with innovation, helping to consider the heritage for its possibilities and not as an obstacle to the high economical pressure that most Southeast Asia cities are currently experiencing.

In collaboration with Jorge Soares Mendes & Gonçalo Duarte Pacheco

MEMORIAL FOR TAOUDENNI

Taoudenni, Mali

Concept Design

40.000 sqm

Long caravans starting from Timbouktou have reached Morocco following the Azalai Route for thousands of years.

An army of camels was raised and conducted through deserted lands, strong sandy winds under the most extreme temperatures on the planet, to trade gold for salt, the whole journey lasted 2 months on average.

In a time when the salt stone was the base for the conservation of food gold was something easily invested for the benefit of storing food.

Caravans reached Taoudenni to get loaded with salt stones to be then carried to Sigilmassa and therefore Europe.

Taoudenni is the name of the land that is located in the salt basin of the north of Mali, the thousands of pits been dug in the ground for centuries makes Taoudenni one of the biggest hand made sculptures in the world, covering an area of roughly 4 hectares, which is just what has not been buried by the sandy wind when no longer profitable, as the nearby Taghaza.

The mines are on average 6x6x3m holes and are surrounded by the less profitable rocks been excavated and left in place.

A patient work of satellite images photo merge has been carried out to get an overall rough estimation of the number of holes in the ground and the amount of rocks sill left there, that enabled to get an estimation of 1260 holes and 90.720 cubic meters of salt rocks.

The idea of the project is to promote the conservation of the salt mines with a dedicated memorial since the place is remote, there is a limitation on the diversity of resources available, such as salt rocks, wind, sun and sand.

What has come out was to use the leftover rocks that have been abandoned around the holes to build the memorial, which will be literally built with the same stones that have been excavated for centuries and re-assemble them in an area more north, revealing the massing work that has been undertaken to extract salt and celebrate the memory of those who have worked under one of the harshest conditions possibly on earth.

Memory is the ultimate responsibility of Architecture, it is a good memory that reminds you how good can life be and therefore worth the effort of resisting its challenges, it is the reason why we look forward to the next day to come, to create new and better memories and store them in the book of our lives, to be read again. Since memory gives significance to a place, is a salt mine in the desert condemned to be a place of suffering forever? Architecture can not just change the meaning of a place, but telling a new story, and possibly a joyful one.

A Memorial that is a place of peace.