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By bbridge, January 28, 2010 3:14 pm

After ranking second at the 2009 Leaf Awards, the celebrated Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan was awarded “Best new private house” at Design Awards 2010 by British magazine Wallpaper* for his Costa Verde house.

Located in a private cove in the region known as Costa Verde, just south of Rio de Janeiro, the stylish summer house of clean lines sits practically on the white beach sand, surrounded by the untouched native greenery.

We are very happy for this award as our mosaics were the glass tiles of choice for this project. At Costa Verde, the infinity pool flanked by a handsome ipe-wood sundeck was finished in ¾”x ¾” Vidrotil glass mosaics, color 409. What is more, the organic texture of our handcrafted mosaics do look great in this setting… just saying…

Our congratulations to Marcio Kogan and his team and thanks for working with Vidrotil!

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You can see more at:

Wallpaper* Design Awards 2010

Marcio Kogan Studio

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Correction: The mosaic tile color was corrected from 209 to 409

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By bbridge, September 24, 2009 9:44 pm

Machado-Silvetti Web Site

When the Getty Trust commissioned Machado and Silvetti Associates for the redesign and expansion of the Getty Villa in Malibu, CA, one of the major challenges they faced was the harmonization of all buildings and public areas with the existing J. Paul Getty Museum, erected in 1974 as a recreation of a first-century Roman country house.  In the words of design architect Jorge Silvetti,  “It’s a huge property and it was already a landmark.  Our approach to the villa museum building focused on (improving) its classical architecture. This was going to be an exemplary paradigm designed to help the public understand how the Romans lived.”

To this end, instead of replicating Roman architecture, the modernist architects conceived original elements that defined a character for the new Getty Villa and harmonized the otherwise disparate existing structures. In their master plan, they designed a building complex that was to have the original villa at the center and new structures around it, as gateways that deliver the visitor to the old.

The $ 275 million masterful renovation of the villa took twelve years and the collage of old and new involved exquisite combinations of onyx, travertine, granite, sandstone, copper, bronze, wood, glass and striated concrete, both in the new additions and in the restoration of original floors and walls.  On a par with these materials, glass mosaic tiles handcrafted by Vidrotil were used not only to add unique sheen and organic texture on restroom walls across the complex, but also, thanks to their timelessness, to serve as common denominator for the original villa and the architectural additions.

By the way, the museum also has a great collection of antique art…

When in the Malibu, CA area, make sure you pay a visit to the Getty Villa. In the meantime, you can check out the Machado and Silvetti’s website.

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By Fred, June 21, 2009 8:06 pm

Copyright Ed. Abril 2009

Congratulations to architects Agnes Manso and Maria Alice Miglorancia! Last week they won the first prize for best public facility design at Casa Cor São Paulo 2009 with their “Women’s Restroom”. The custom design by Vidrotil is a lovely and most unusual striped combination of two shades of red (3940 and 3950) and two shades of purple (330 and 340) rendered in glass mosaic tiles, sizes 3/4″ x 3/4″ and 3/8″x 3/8″.

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By Fred, June 12, 2009 3:56 pm

Despite Marcio Kogan being widely known for the excellence of his architectural design and for the international awards he has been accumulating over time, it is always a renewed pleasure to see his work getting high praise from architects in the media and on the Internet. A quick Google search shows the buzz that his spectacular design of the Panama House has stirred up on the web after taking second place in the 2008 International Design Award.

In this residential project, Kogan once again materialized his preferred mix of contrasting materials – here, in stone, wood, glass and concrete –, the “box” form and the intention of the design, carefully attending to details. Like his other designs, Kogan’s Panama House boasts a refined economy of forms and shares a same general ambience of breathability, luminosity and lightness – an inspiration and a great treat to the eyes.

In the Panama House as well as in many other projects by Marcio Kogan, Vidrotil glass tiles play a prominent role as external and internal coverings. The swimming pool and the reflecting pool you see in the picture were clad in our green 240A 2N and 3400 sq. ft. of white 610 and blue 480 mosaics were used in internal areas.

You can see more of Kogan’s work on his website and in Wallpaper’s website.