AMRA7 Apartment is a project designed by Bruno Rossi Arquitetos + Piratininga Arquitetos and decor by Manaa Arquitetura. Photography by Nelson Kon.

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A large mashrabiya ? featuring windows with wooden trusses, an Iberian heritage typical of Brazilian architecture, draws your attention on Alameda Ministro Rocha Azevedo, near Avenida Paulista in São Paulo. It is a residential building designed in 1964 by the architects Alberto Botti and Marc Rubin, both partners at Botti & Rubin Associated Architects.
The twenty-six-meter-long façade with exposed concrete beams and columns emphasizes the building technique and plasticity of the concrete. Internally, large glass panels frame the urban landscape, allowing for the enjoyment of natural lighting and ventilation, while light can be controlled by closing the wooden trusses. The structural design exposed on the facade continues its narrative inside the apartment. The demolition of the ceiling revealed the beauty of the modular concrete beam grid system. The grid forms a twelve-meter-long span and opens into a sequence of 15 porches. Our interpretation of the original 320m² surface identified two wings: the bedrooms and social areas look out to the street, while the wet areas such as bathrooms, utilities, and the kitchen are in the back.
Most of the demolition work took place in those wet areas, changing and opening the rooms to ensure natural light and cross ventilation. The result...