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Architects: Per Cavalli Arquitetura
- Area: 3000 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Cacá Bratke
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Lead Architect: Giulia Bitar Malfatti
Text description provided by the architects. Haras DOM was designed to serve a family that practices jumping and carriage driving. Designed as a complete equestrian structure, which allows everything - from raising foals to practicing these sports at a high level - it focuses on the well-being of the animals that live there. Slightly hilly and without abrupt differences in level, the topography of the site dictated the positioning of all built volumes which, in turn, dictated the flow of animals, cars, and trucks. Employee houses were strategically positioned at the highest level and close to the main entrance, allowing general visibility of the property and access control.
At the other extreme, at an intermediate level, there is the volume of the pavilion and its annexes, such as the round pen, manure pit, roughage deposits, and veterinary room. As a space with greater permanence and flow, it has a privileged view and privacy, an important demand from customers. The central and lowest point of the land houses the large high-performance track, machinery garage, and two maternity stalls with individual paddocks. The entire property is connected not only by the numerous release paddocks, spread throughout the area, but also by the lane specifically designed for the practice of carriage driving.
The choice of finishes was a key point in the project: Moledo stones laid at half height and gray shingle tiles, for example, were used in all buildings in the complex (including the kennel, next to the pony stalls), which accentuated the much-desired unity in a work with diverse elements. Protagonist, the main pavilion has a central corridor layout for 30 stalls measuring 4m x 4xm each. A single volume that, internally, is subdivided into 3, through secondary passages, with the “ends” dedicated to the stalls and the center to the concentration of day-to-day services and functionalities, such as a saddle room, showers, changing rooms, and gourmet space.
Inside the pavilion, the lighting was designed separately for two moments: during the day the idea is for the light source to be almost exclusively natural and, to achieve this, a huge atrium cuts, longitudinally, across the volume. This element also helps with ventilation, since the difference in height in relation to the main roof forms an opening that allows the chimney effect. During the night, we have a general, more technical light source, located in the center of the corridor, and another softer one, with sconces positioned lower, on each of the pillars.
In an equestrian project, the level of detail is always high, as it is designed with large animals in mind, with a wild and gregarious nature. To improve the quality of life of the stabled horses, each of the stalls was thought out in detail. They are separated by railings starting at mid-height, which allows visual contact between the horses (while limiting physical contact) and optimizes natural ventilation and lighting. Each animal has, in addition to a feed trough and automatic drinking fountain with independent hydraulic points, with a fan, to alleviate the hottest days.
Another element that benefits the well-being of the animals is the presence, in all stalls, of window doors facing outside the pavilion, enabling even greater interaction with the space that surrounds them and, in this way, reducing their stress levels. Such doors are also advantageous in the event of an emergency need to remove animals without having to enter the main volume. In the next volume, there is the veterinarian, which has ample space for procedures, a containment trunk, a pharmacy, and a manipulation bench. In order to optimize access, and circulation and reduce stressors for the treated animals, it was decided to install shrimp doors in all the generous openings, since, when opened, they give the feeling of total integration with the outside world.
