- Project: Terras House
- Architect: Taguá Arquitetura
- Location: Brazil, São Paulo
- Year: 2021
- Area: 650 m2
- Photography: Leonardo Giantomasi
A Dialogue Between Privacy and Openness
Nestled in the rolling landscapes of São Paulo’s interior, Terras House by Taguá Arquitetura achieves a delicate equilibrium between privacy, transparency, and integration with nature. The 650-square-meter residence unfolds across a gently sloped plot, its volumes and materials carefully orchestrated to shape an architecture of calm and continuity.
At once grounded and light, the house is defined by a composition of reinforced concrete, steel, wood, and glass, forming an open, single-story layout that embraces spatial flow and visual unity.
“The client wanted a home where spaces could connect seamlessly without compromising privacy,” explain the architects. “This became the foundation of the project’s design logic.”
Concept: A House of Blocks and Gardens
To reconcile openness with intimacy, the architects conceived a series of distinct blocks, each dedicated to a specific function, arranged around a central garden. This composition not only provides spatial clarity but also ensures natural light, ventilation, and visual connection from every room.
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East Block: houses the private quarters, including bedrooms and bathrooms, oriented for morning light and privacy.
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Central Block: the social heart of the home, topped by a wide metallic roof with wooden lining and punctuated by courtyard voids.
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West Block: contains the garage and technical spaces, shielding the interior from street views.
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Lower Block: accommodates the kitchen, service areas, and gourmet space, fully open to the garden and pool.
The U-shaped floor plan frames an intimate central courtyard, transforming it into a green nucleus that unites the residence’s distinct wings through glazed corridors. From anywhere inside, the presence of nature is constant — reflected, framed, and lived.
Architecture: Structure and Transparency
The residence employs a hybrid construction system combining reinforced concrete for the structural base and steel framing for the social spaces, allowing for generous spans and slender roof profiles. This choice enhances both structural agility and spatial fluidity, minimizing visual barriers.
The metal roof that defines the social core is an architectural gesture in itself — hovering above glass façades and brise panels, it filters sunlight, defines thresholds, and shelters interior gardens carved into the plan. These voids transform the roof into a living canopy, integrating architecture and landscape into one cohesive whole.
While the main façade remains deliberately opaque — clad in soft natural stone for privacy and protection — the interior façades open completely to the gardens, creating a play of openness and enclosure that changes with light and time.
Materiality: A Natural Palette
Taguá Arquitetura’s material palette speaks of honesty, warmth, and tactility. The fusion of steel, wood, and stone establishes a dialogue between industrial precision and natural softness.
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Steel enables large openings and a sense of lightness.
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Wood defines the ceilings and brise-soleils, adding warmth and acoustical comfort.
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Stone cladding grounds the composition with texture and permanence.
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Glass serves as the invisible connector, allowing spaces to dissolve into the landscape.
Together, these materials create a serene and timeless atmosphere, in which architectural form and natural context are inseparable.
Living in Continuity
The living, dining, and gourmet areas flow seamlessly under the metal roof, defined only by changes in transparency and lighting. Here, life unfolds between garden and pool — an ideal scenario for Brazil’s mild climate.
The gourmet pavilion, supported by four slender steel pillars, is the social anchor of the home, fully open to the central courtyard and pool. It embodies the project’s essence: spatial openness without visual chaos, and simplicity enhanced by structural clarity.
Every pathway, from corridor to terrace, maintains a visual link to the garden, ensuring that light and greenery remain central to daily living.
A Contemporary Haven Rooted in Context
Terras House is more than a residence; it is a reflection on spatial balance and environmental connection. Through simple geometries, natural materials, and thoughtful orientation, Taguá Arquitetura has created a home that blurs the line between architecture and landscape — a contemporary refuge where serenity and openness coexist effortlessly.
