Art collection guide for renovating Brasilia apartments from the 1960s

To accommodate the extensive art collection of the residents of this apartment located in Brasília's "model block," from 1961, the renovation project signed by BLOCO Arquitetos – from the cast of CASACOR Brasília – started from a respectful intervention to the original architecture, while eliminating the excess compartmentalization of the original floor plan of the building to create a spacious area, integrated with the works of art and contemporary needs of the clients. Originally designed by architects Marcelo Campello and Sérgio Rocha, the 245 m² apartment had a traditional configuration, with the living room separated from the dining room by a wall and a linear service area that occupied the entire rear facade of the building. During the renovation period, the residents lived in Japan, which provided the architects enough time to study the feasibility of the intervention. The work, started in 2020, was conducted from a distance. In the process, a striking original concrete structure was revealed and kept exposed, including a prominent hand-france in the living room, as well as other concrete beams and columns in areas such as the living room, kitchen, and bedrooms. One of the main objectives of the intervention was to eliminate compartmentalization between social areas and the former service spaces, expanding circulation and promoting integration. The two original service bedrooms were removed to make way for a new, more compact service area. The kitchen was repositioned along the rear facade, with cobogós, and became integrated with the expanded social area. This new configuration created a direct connection between the front and rear facades of the apartment, providing cross-ventilation and natural light entry in all social projects.

The lavatory was repositioned close to the entrance, and the first bedroom was converted into a library that houses a large part of the residents' collection objects in a custom-built shelf. The original floor of the apartment was entirely restored through a process of removal, retification, and reinstallation in the final phases of the work. One of the biggest challenges of the project was to accommodate the vast art collection of the residents. For this, shelves, panels, and the structural elements themselves were carefully planned to support the works, whose installation locations were previously defined. The pieces, coming from Tokyo, arrived at the apartment close to the completion of the work. The result is a space that connects different eras through art – from modernism to contemporary – reflecting, like Brasília, a harmonious synthesis between history and the present.