RLW House

The first visit to understand the property revealed the challenge of building a house at this particular location. The natural terrain had a slope close to 45% and was immersed in dense Atlantic Forest vegetation. From the highest point of the lot, we could view the sea above the tree line. The extensive requirements program and the desire of the owners to have a view of the sea from the social area completed our design prerogatives.

We worked initially with physical and virtual mockups of the terrain topography, trying, as subtly as possible, to literally fit the architecture into the original relief, minimizing the project’s footprint on the landscape. At the same time, we avoided a radically vertical volume, unsuitable for a beach house, which in our opinion should not appear to have more than two stories.

Our proposal was to arrange the project in five staggered floors that would be aesthetically independent of each other, where one would never perceive its full height. In this way, the access floor is characterized by a solid volume, covered with rough stone and more mimetized to the ground features. The second floor forms an empty space, where we placed a balcony, a water mirror and family-use areas. The third floor contains the bedrooms and is formed by a pure volume covered by wood panels in balance, on pilotis-type columns.

This block contains the social area, comprised of an overhanging terrace with a swimming pool designed to take advantage of the view. The living room and the balcony are set back from the ground and protected by a slender flat roof with eaves and glass frames. The top floor is formed by an uncovered wooden deck area.