- Project: Patio Guapuruvu House
- Architect: Estudio Piloti
- Location: Brazil, Camanducaia
- Year: 2022
- Area: 210 m2
- Photography: Pedro Kok
A Courtyard Retreat in the Mountains of Mantiqueira
At an elevation of 4,100 feet in Brazil’s Mantiqueira mountain range, Patio Guapuruvu House by Estudio Piloti Arquitetura is a contemporary rural retreat designed around a central courtyard that blurs the line between domestic life and nature. The home embodies simplicity, sustainability, and connection, offering its residents a serene dialogue with the landscape.
Situated on a 20,000 m² sloping plot in Camanducaia, the residence takes advantage of its north-facing orientation, opening up to the panoramic views of forested valleys while shielding itself from the cold southern winds.
Architecture Rooted in Place
The concept of the courtyard is central to the design. Three independent volumes — the main house, the shed, and the guest house — are arranged around a 10×10-meter patio. This configuration creates a balance of intimacy and openness, enabling diverse uses: from drying harvested grains to sharing meals by a bonfire under the stars.
Each building maintains its own access, offering flexibility for different rhythms of living. The courtyard becomes both a functional workspace and a social nucleus, evoking the communal atmosphere of traditional Brazilian farms while embodying modern architectural restraint.
Material Honesty and Local Craftsmanship
Designed for affordability, speed, and sustainability, Patio Guapuruvu House employs local techniques and natural materials in their purest state.
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Rammed earth walls, built with soil excavated on-site, provide thermal mass and a tactile connection to the terrain.
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Polished concrete floors rest on polystyrene insulation panels, ensuring comfort through the region’s temperature extremes.
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The courtyard’s ceramic tiles recall the drying terraces of historic coffee farms — a subtle homage to regional heritage.
The main and guest houses feature glued laminated wood roofs with insulation panels and 30 cm thick rammed earth walls for efficient climate control. The shed, serving as a utility and tool space, adopts a simpler palette of exposed concrete, ceramic brick cobogós, and panel slabs, reflecting a hierarchy of purpose and cost efficiency.
Sustainable Systems in Harmony with Nature
Environmental stewardship is at the core of the project. The sewage system employs an ecological evapotranspiration basin, where banana trees purify wastewater through natural bacterial filtration. Rainwater infiltration replenishes the groundwater, maintaining the natural hydrological cycle of the site.
Every decision, from material reuse to minimal earth movement, reflects Estudio Piloti’s ethos of building with the land, not against it. The use of excavated soil for wall construction and sustainably sourced timber reduces carbon footprint while grounding the architecture within its environment.
Living Between Earth and Sky
The placement of the house on an intermediate level of the terrain offers two distinct layers of experience:
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the immediate forest, where wildlife becomes part of daily life, and
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the distant valley, where shifting light and weather dramatize the horizon.
This duality — between proximity and vastness, shelter and exposure — defines the poetic character of Patio Guapuruvu House. The result is a home that honors vernacular wisdom through modern design clarity, encouraging residents to live attuned to the rhythm of nature.
Essential Beauty Through Simplicity
In its earth-toned textures, low-impact construction, and courtyard-centered plan, Patio Guapuruvu House distills architecture to its essence — space, light, and material.
By embracing raw materials, local craftsmanship, and passive design, Estudio Piloti Arquitetura creates a timeless home that is both environmentally responsible and emotionally grounded — a sanctuary shaped by the landscape itself.
