Lacerda House,
Museum Annex
architecture and urban design,
open call contest



architects
Aronis Farfelmaze

team
Daniel Farfelmaze,
Eleonora Aronis

year
2019

status
unbuilt

area
560m²



The project for the annex of the Museu Casa Lacerda, including the landscaping and management of its external area, emerged from two main objectives: firstly, to create a constant relationship with the surrounding landscape – both natural and built – and secondly, to maintain a dialogue with the historical narratives of the place. This involves both an urban context, by reviving events that resonate with collective memory, and an intimate sphere, by honoring the history of the family that owned the house.

The architectural volume of the project was designed primarily to preserve the views from the house’s windows and Mrs. Maria Thereza Lacerda’s tomb, making the building a meeting point between the architecture of Casa Lacerda and the hilly landscape. This approach aims to enhance the understanding of the region's occupation and to value its cultural and scenic heritage. The design features horizontal walls along the annexed terrain, perpendicular to the windows of the clock room, which mimic the rhythm of the facade, frame the views, and organize the program. Additionally, the annex connects longitudinally between Casa Lacerda’s backyard and Travessa Francisco Brito de Lacerda, with heights that correspond to the surrounding scale. This is achieved by a semi-underground lower floor and a stepped upper floor that connects the two entrances. The ascent between these levels ensures a fluid circulation, resembling the path taken by muleteers entering the city, with the hills in the background and the city center ahead.

The program is organized between the walls: the semi-underground ground floor houses the library, multipurpose rooms, and administrative wing, while the upper floor contains the exhibition room, store/bookshop, café, kitchen, and a veranda with a wood stove. At the center of the building, one of the walls was removed to create a large central courtyard, where the different functions open into, encouraging interaction among users and accommodating various cultural activities as well as moments of contemplation and rest. Without resorting to a historicist language, other architectural solutions – such as materiality, circulation, spatiality, lighting, constructive details, and facade language – were designed to foster a constant dialogue between the colonial architecture of Casa Lacerda and the historical center and the new building.

Furthermore, elements from the family’s history and the site’s past were preserved and highlighted to maintain a symbolic memory: at the entrance via Travessa Francisco Brito de Lacerda, the existing well and fig tree were transformed into central elements of the reception courtyard. Possible remnants of a slave quarters were marked with a zenithal opening, and the tomb of Mrs. Maria Thereza Lacerda, along with the rose garden and pergola of the courtyard, were exalted through the views from the annex building. Additionally, the use of yerba mate trees was proposed to guide the path through the garden, and the existing garden was expanded and transformed into an agroforestry garden with edible and medicinal plants, referencing the curative nature of the monk’s hill.

Thus, the project proposes a subtle intervention in terms of landscaping and management by maintaining existing elements and highlighting symbolic artifacts, respecting the character of the listed building. The museum annex is proposed as a support to the existing architecture, enhancing the listed building and museum visitation through an engaging dialogue between the new and the existing, and between architecture and landscape. The result is a building that integrates with the existing urban fabric and introduces a new element of contemporary architectural and cultural interest to the city, promoting the use of historical heritage.