- Project: RRD 03 House
- Architect: Paulo Henrique Paranhos Arquitetos
- Location: Brazil, Brasília
- Year: 2023
- Area: 590 m2
- Photography: Júlia Tótoli
Context and Site Integration
Set within a prestigious residential sector of Brasília, the RRD 03 House is part of a carefully planned architectural ensemble developed on a sprawling farm. Designed by Paulo Henrique Paranhos, the residence embraces a deep connection with nature, where roads, sidewalks, squares, and gardens merge seamlessly into one continuous landscape.
The urban plan avoids rigid separations between built and natural environments. Instead, all paved areas double as social and leisure spaces, ensuring that both children and the elderly can enjoy the outdoors without disruption from vehicles.
Architectural Expression
The single-story home is conceived as a permeable structure that allows nature to flow through and around it. Exposed concrete slabs and warm wooden panels form the architectural language, their composition resembling loose sheets that blur the distinction between solid and void. Rather than imposing barriers, the residence opens toward the farm’s shared green expanses, relying on the communal security system for privacy and protection.
Visitors enter through a floating wooden panel gate that reveals a semi-internal garden hall. From here, circulation unfolds toward the social spaces, the intimate wing, and the service areas, each carefully placed to ensure openness and cross-ventilation.
Spatial Organization
The residence is organized into parallel slabs that define distinct zones:
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Left wing: garage and service areas, open to lateral green spaces
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Right wing: intimate areas, including bedrooms and private gardens
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Central core: social and leisure areas framed by large green views
All intimate spaces are surrounded by gardens scaled for contemplation, creating restful pockets of landscape within the home’s perimeter.
The social heart of the house is a generous veranda connected to a gourmet kitchen and lounge. This space flows directly to the solarium and pool, with a white metallic pergola providing shade and rhythm across the outdoor living areas.
Structural Simplicity and Nuance
While structurally straightforward, the house reveals careful architectural nuance. Ribbed mixed slabs and raised rooflines provide openness in the social areas, while the pergola emphasizes the disciplined interplay of pillars, beams, and slabs. Concrete and wood panels alternate with permeable surfaces, ensuring that indoor life is constantly engaged with the cerrado’s preserved green landscape.
Living with the Landscape
Every room—whether kitchen, bedrooms, or social zones—frames views of the surrounding cerrado, reinforcing the intention to design not from the logic of built mass, but from the dialogue between construction and landscape. The architecture privileges permeability, scale, and intimacy without compromising privacy, making the residence feel less like a closed object and more like an extension of nature itself.
The RRD 03 House by Paulo Henrique Paranhos exemplifies Brazilian contemporary residential design deeply rooted in context. With its restrained use of concrete and wood, permeable boundaries, and seamless integration of architecture and landscape, the house transcends conventional residential typologies to become a harmonious retreat in the cerrado.
