Selected workJCBJardim Clube da Barra · 1981

Architecture that welcomes.

Jardim Clube da Barra asked five studios for a retrofit of its two gatehouses. AERA answered with an architectural proposal — and with the platform the condominium used to compare all five.

Proposal · architectural concept
PlaceJardim Clube da Barra, Rio de Janeiro
ScopeArchitecture, access flows, signage, decision platform
Made by AERAConcept, architecture, drawings, renders and platform
StatusProposal. Not built.

A gate that had stopped
speaking for the place.

01 / 05
The entrance as built: worn asphalt, a small cabin beside the metal gates, a concrete wall and a utility pole, seen from inside the condominium.
From inside the condominium
The avenue at dusk seen through the glass of the existing cabin, with planting in front and traffic beyond.
From the cabin

Nothing was wrong with the condominium. The entrance had simply been patched rather than designed: one gate doing three jobs, a cabin that looks at the avenue more than at the gate, and deliveries arriving in the middle of it. The retrofit starts there, not with a style.

The current gatehouse: a small tiled cabin, metal gates and a planted island, at midday.
The proposal from the same point of view: a long canopy, wood, stone, warm light and planting, at dusk.
01 Today 02 Proposal

Same point of view. The frame does not move; the entrance does.

The project,
in three drawings.

02 / 05
Site plan: one canopy over a pedestrian walk, the glazed cabin with the parcel room behind it, and two vehicle lanes, with the stone sign wall to the left.

Drag the sheet sideways

01 Site planOne canopy covers the three ways in. Residents pass straight through; visitors stop where the cabin can see them; pedestrians get a gate of their own instead of the edge of a driveway. Parcels are received behind the cabin, off the entrance.
Floor plan of the gatehouse: a glazed cabin with an L-shaped counter facing the drive, and a parcel room, washroom and store in a solid block behind it.

Drag the sheet sideways

02 Floor planGlass to the front, work behind. The cabin looks at the approach on three sides; the parcel room, the washroom and the store sit in a solid block at its back, and a service window opens to the pedestrian walk so nobody has to cross the lane to be served.
Section through the entrance: the stone wall and planting, the pedestrian walk, the glazed cabin and the vehicle lane, all under one long canopy with a wood slat soffit.

Drag the sheet sideways

03 Section AAThe canopy is the whole idea: low, long, and lit from underneath, so the light comes off the wood instead of from a pole. The stone wall carries the year and holds the planting above it.

Drawn for this case from the proposal. No survey of the existing entrance exists, so the sheets carry no dimensions: they show relation and use, and the scale is given by the figures and the car. They are a design study, not construction documents.

Five materials, where
the entrance is read.

03 / 05

Impact without excess was the constraint, so the project does not spread. It concentrates: a canopy and five materials, placed exactly where anyone arriving actually looks.

The wood slat soffit of the canopy, with recessed downlights.
WoodThe slat soffit, and the light that comes off it.
The rough stone wall carrying the year 1981 in metal letters.
StoneThe wall that carries the year.
The glazed corner of the cabin, looking out over the avenue.
GlassSo the cabin can see, and be seen.
A planted bed beside the drive, lit from below.
PlantingStructure, not finishing.
The entrance at dusk, lit warmly from under the canopy.
LightWarm, low and always indirect.

The proposal,
as it was shown.

04 / 05
Scroll to run the transformation
The lit sign reading 1981 Jardim Clube da Barra, set into a stone wall with planting.
The year, in the wall1981 stays. The founding year becomes the first thing the entrance says.
Inside the proposed cabin: a continuous desk, screens and a glazed front looking over the approach.
From the cabinThe point of view of whoever works there: the approach, open and lit.
The proposed pedestrian entrance, separated from the vehicle lanes by planting.
On footThe pedestrian gets an entrance, not the leftover of a driveway.
The second gatehouse of the condominium in the proposal, with the same language of canopy, wood and planting.
The second gateThe same language carries to the other access, so the condominium reads as one place.

A proposal is not enough.
The decision needs a place.

05 / 05

The five proposals lived in a presentation, a spreadsheet and a folder of images. AERA turned them into one page the board could actually read. The screens below show only AERA’s own material.

The platform's opening screen: Conceitos & Arquitetura, over a photo of the current entrance.
01 · Opening
The platform's current-situation screen, listing the vulnerabilities of the existing gatehouse.
02 · Today
The platform showing AERA's own proposal, number 05, with its render gallery.
03 · The proposal

The four ideas behind the project

01Welcome

The entrance was designed to carry the character of the place: residential, close to the garden, warm at night.

02Security

Architecture organises the accesses, widens what the cabin can see and separates residents, visitors and pedestrians.

03Nature

Planting is not finishing. It is part of the structure, and it is what softens the arrival.

04Value

Impact without excess: canopy, wood, stone, glass and planting concentrated where they are seen.

A gate is where a place says who it is.

AERA — concept, architecture, renders, plan and platform Proposal · architectural concept · not built