Mountaintop home nestles among giant royal palms

To exchange the house they had on the beach in Angra dos Reis, this family with two teenage children chose a new suitable address: a monumental country house , nestled on the top of a mountain between Teresópolis and Friburgo. There are 825 m² of built area, on a plot of 3,210 m² surrounded by imperial palm trees and native fauna. The project is designed by architects Bernardo Gaudie-Ley and Tânia Braida, from Beta Arquitetura and part of the CASACOR Rio de Janeiro team. The house was laid out in a T, with one side dedicated to the social area and the other to the intimate area. In addition to allowing guests to feel more comfortable, this format was also a solution found to preserve the three huge imperial palm trees on the land in the center of this room. From there, the office proposed a modern and clean architecture supported by an exposed metal structure and mixed walnut wood and natural stones with large “cloths” of transparent glass to integrate the house with the surrounding nature, interfering as little as possible with the landscape. In the decoration , with a contemporary and modern style, everything is new. According to the architects, the presence of darker wood (walnut) in some furniture and in the finishing of the joinery and the brown leather in the ottoman and armchairs in the room helped to reinforce the mountain atmosphere . In order not to weigh it down visually, the professionals used light colors in the upholstery of the sofas and dining chairs, in the carpets and in the large-format porcelain tile floor, in the burnt cement pattern. The brightest colors appear occasionally in cushions and works of art.

“At the request of the client, who loves cooking and sharing these moments with friends, we integrated the living room with the kitchen and also installed a barbecue in it. To encourage even more social interaction, we installed the pool table right in front of the island bench”, explains architect Tânia. The dining room is delimited by walnut panels that cover the walls and ceiling, creating a box effect. The front facade of the house, with great visual impact thanks to its structure made of exposed steel beams (painted black), has walls covered with rough natural stones and balconies with ceilings covered with wooden slats. The couple's master suite, on the second floor, cantilevers out from the second floor facade, appearing to float over the external landscape. As the house has no walls, it fully integrates with the vegetation of the mountains and its gardens are frequently visited by peacocks and native fauna. The landscaping is designed by Júlio Sousa. “Our biggest challenge in this work was to guide the project based on the existing vegetation, including making the most of it. In the end, only one imperial palm tree needed to be removed to make the construction of the bathroom possible”, concludes architect Tânia.

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