Newly arrived in São Paulo with their two children, Juliana and Gabriel desired to renovate their new apartment. Located in the Jardim Paulista neighborhood in the capital of São Paulo, the property was old but had great potential for renovation. The project, designed by architects Karen Evangelisti and Marcos Mendes, formerly partners at Iná Arquitetura (Karen and Marcos are currently partners at Goiva Arquitetura), aimed to integrate the spaces and adapt them to the lifestyle of the new family. The original layout was reconsidered to better utilize the spaces.
In the apartment entrance, carpentry stands out as a key point of the project, including the restored wooden floor. A kind of blue wooden "box" welcomes visitors, serving as a bench, door, and slatted panel. Then, while a shelf traverses the rooms providing unity, integrating the spaces and allowing for different uses, a muxarabi, a traditional Moorish-influenced element of Brazilian colonial architecture, was chosen to ensure privacy. Camouflaged by the blue panel, a powder room features carpentry in neutral tones. For the cladding, terrazzo in shades of pink and blue adds charm, accentuated by unconventional wall lights.
The blue carpentry, the couple's chosen color, extends into the living room and kitchen, dividing the spaces without completely isolating them. A counter unites the two rooms, serving as a support for cooking or meals, complemented by black furniture in the kitchen, contrasting with the white brick walls, ensuring a modern look. In the suite, neutral tones, wooden flooring, and carpentry are the highlights, echoing the rest of the apartment's decor. Next to the bed, a home office area offers a view of the neighborhood, while the bathroom features neutral decoration and terrazzo flooring in shades of blue, providing a soothing visual.
Finally, the children's room features a map on the wall, recalling the memories of distant relatives.
About Goiva
A gouge (or “goiva”, in Portuguese) is a tool used in woodcut printing to give precision to the curves of the lines. It shapes creation, giving form to different stories. Similarly, Goiva Arquitetura bases its work on the protagonism of creation. In each project, the focus is to enhance the journey in architecture in a poetic way, showing that creation becomes conception – that is, it is something alive that starts from an idea. At the end of each project, they aim to manifest results that are the product of creation, processes, and the poetic envelopment of architecture. Led by architects and partners Karen Evangelisti and Marcos Mendes, architecture is seen as the exercise of sculpting spaces and ideas, materializing and executing unique projects that embrace the unexpected.
About Karen Evangelisti
An architect graduated in 2014 from FAU-USJT, she received the 1st place prize at Ópera Prima with her thesis and participated as a guest in academic panels at the main universities in São Paulo. She was a partner and architect at Iná Arquitetura for 7 years, working in creative direction and developing over 100 projects and constructions. In 2023, along with Marcos Mendes, she founded Goiva.
About Marcos Mendes
An architect graduated in 2008 from Mackenzie, he was invited the following year to work at the LVPH Architectes office in Switzerland, where he remained for three years and won 1st place in a competition in Geneva. Back in Brazil, he founded Iná Arquitetura, remaining as a partner and architect for 11 years, signing 170 projects and building the majority of them. In 2023, together with Karen Evangelisti, he founded Goiva.
