Dezeen Magazine

Coven by Marcelo Alvarenga

Architectural photographer Leonardo Finotti has sent us images of Coven, a knitwear store by architect Marcelo Alvarenga in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

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The store, completed in May last year, is a conversion of a two-storey brick house overclad with a metallic mesh in a pattern that resembles knitting.

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The brickwork will be rendered a different colour for each new season.

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A glazed pergola on the ground floor penetrates the mesh facade and allows natural light to infiltrate the shop space.

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Artists Susana Bastos and Ana Vaz were invited to create a permanent installation for the store interior.

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Using thread and surplus material the artists produced an in-store display of fabric, vine-like braided ropes.

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Photos are by Leonardo Finotti. Here is further information from architect Marcelo Alvarenga:

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This is the first store of Coven, a Brazilian brand of knitwear.

The store is located in Lourdes, a traditional district in Belo Horizonte, where the finest garment and design stores have concentrated in recent years and occupy converted old buildings.

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And this was the case of Coven store. Originally it was a two-storey house, with a wide concrete ledge. The ledge allowed for the construction of a metallic mesh, overlying the existing brickwork.

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The idea of a mesh overlapping the building came from the clothes themselves. The grid in the façade suggests the idea of woven thread, the raw material of knitwear, superposing a colorful wall that can be repainted every season.

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In the interior, the whole space was remodeled. All of interior walls were suppressed, except the stair - an old and beautiful wood work -, and the walls around it, covered with mirror.

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On the ground floor, glazed pergola allows for a filter natural light into the store.

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The architect invited two artists – Susana Bastos and Ana Vaz -  to create a permanent install in this area, that would suggest a vine, from where garments would spring. In response, they created a white install using thread and left-overs of the materials used in the making of the garments.

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PROJECT_dic 2007 to jan 2008
COMPLETED _may 2008
ÁREA CONSTRUÍDA 160 m²

ARCHITECT_ Marcelo Alvarenga
COLLABORATOR_  Luciana Garcia
CONSTRUCTION_ Construtora CRC