With its extroverted facade of clean lines and massive openings, MJZ Arquitectos’ The Palm 313 boasts stunning views of the ocean and Mozambique’s coastline.
Palm 313 is located on a remote beach (Praia das Chocas) in the North of Mozambique, Africa.
With a panoramic sea view and direct access to the beach, the site includes a bathing area of low urban density, with minimal development and precarious access, which may be the reason for its unmatched beauty.
The Palm 313 has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
This large-scale building, in such a particular context, took into account the surroundings, the privacy desired by its client, and deep knowledge of the place and its cultures.
It was designed to conceal its true dimension from passers-by.
One cannot foresee the greatness of the construction, of the interior and exterior areas that may be found behind the façade, as well as the life that fills the house and its enormous outer space with pool and lawn that meet the sea.
Three stories were organized in straight volumes, coated in a soft color, where white, glass, warm light, and palm trees prevail.
The long and running inferior volume stands on the ground floor; on the intermediate floor, the volume that moves over the inferior volume was deconstructed, creating shadows over the glazed terraces and making the construction lighter.
On top of it the pure volume of the upper floor, with the living room, the third floor completes the construction and faces the sea and the amazing views with two large, glazed surfaces.
Balancing interior and exterior spaces, the decision was to open only two living rooms to the roadside and, on the beach side, the three-volume façade would be exclusively composed of glass.
A long terrace starts in the master suite, facing the sea and the waterfall that falls into the pool.
The branches of a concrete tree sustain the terrace, originally christened the building as ‘The House Tree,’ but it is now known as ‘The Palm 313.’
On the ground floor, sliding and accordion doors with vertical aluminum blades were projected, reinventing the traditional African bars and meeting the needs of the context.
Other than addressing the safety issues, such bars are part of the house’s image, giving it a new skin, whether opened or closed.
The priority was to answer the demands of the client and cater to his day-to-day life at home.
A space was created so that the user of the house would be separated from surrounding street movements and feel in harmony with the house and the beach.
Project: The Palm 313
Architects: MJZ Arquitectos
General Contractor: Mozago Construção
Client: Private
Photographers: Paulo Alexandre Photography
