Designed as a weekend house for a young couple with three children, this 700-square-metre residence brings nature in

In order to “capture” the landscape, so to speak, the architects designed the structure around many sturdy square columns, achieving the valuable double height spaces with huge picture windows. The design provides a covered outdoor living area sheltered from the elements and also ensures ideal indoor temperatures. By installing a dry wall to sandwich the large window frames, the architects managed to create an inconspicuous area to conceal the overlapping windows, making the veranda a veritable extension of the living area. When constructing the house, they emphasised the extreme importance of waterproofing the foundation completely and installing a highly efficient drainage system.

For the home’s interiors, the architects envisioned a touch of the rustic and the organic, to counterbalance the clean white lines of the contemporary architectural style. To achieve this they used burned cement, recycled wood, and other natural materials throughout the house. Wood, a resource found in abundance in Brazil, is everywhere in a variety of forms including recycled wood panels along the ultrawide staircase at one end of the living room and a simple wooden dining table at the other. On the veranda, wooden platforms and daybeds, along with a patchwork of greenery and lawn, break up the stone pavement.

To create a warmer atmosphere, the architects selected furniture and plants with just enough curves to interrupt the schematic plan of the home. Sleek waterproof daybeds