This beach house on the northern shore of the state of São Paulo was conceived as a refuge, a breathing space in touch with nature, where one could have friends over and get away from the city. Given a sizeable brief to be arranged across an L-shape plot, the design sought to privilege interaction between internal and external spaces and bring a bit of the local Atlantic Forest inside the house.
To reach out to the landscape and the sea, we chose to elevate the structure, framing the view from nearly every area. At the pedestrian entrance, a long pergola guides visitors to the living room, heightening the sense of continuity along the way. The winter garden in the living room features native plants from the area, with laterally sliding glass doors that allow for cross-ventilation and a pleasantly airy space.
A large ameba-shape opening increases the room’s luminosity and opens it up to the other areas in the house, cutting unexpectedly through the rectangular shape of the structure. The top floor includes a deck with a spa at its center, aligned with the space sketched out by the opening.
Turning to a more vibrant array of colors and textures than our usual palette, the house’s decoration gives the sense of informality sought by the owner, while also creating an environment set apart from that of the family’s residence in São Paulo (also designed by the Studio). The project was structured around a few key elements: the synthetic planks that make up the façade; the natural wood floor that covers the whole of the social area, both indoors and out; and the mixture of blue and orange hues that recurs throughout the interior design.
