Floor-to-ceiling glass windows bring trees into this 95 m² apartment

For his own home in São Paulo, architect Daniel de Castro (from DCC Arquitetura ) had a list of requirements: the property needed to be ventilated , have plenty of natural light on the main facades and a view of a green area or the horizon. The property chosen was a 95 m² apartment from the 1980s in the Pinheiros neighborhood (SP), located in a building with brutalist architecture, with exposed concrete beams and pillars , as well as rustic brick walls. With the renovation, the staircase , previously a narrow, helical staircase, was replaced by an L-shaped model, much more comfortable for everyday use, with a white-painted metalwork structure and wooden steps . “The project also took advantage of the treetops on the street, which are at the same level as the apartment’s glass façade, to create a treehouse atmosphere ,” the architect emphasizes. The original layout of the upper floor included a mezzanine for living (facing the glass opening in the façade, at treetop height) and a master bedroom at the back, with a window and a bed against a beveled wall. After the renovation, the mezzanine was transformed into the master bedroom (the resident's) and the old bedroom, which is smaller, became a guest room. The decor was decorated in neutral, earthy and opaque tones to create a sense of warmth, lightness and timelessness, while also highlighting antique/vintage pieces, design pieces and works of art from the professional's own collection, both collected on trips around the world and inherited from his family. For the same reason, the floor was covered with reclaimed peroba rosa planks and most of the countertops are made of white Paraná marble . The walls were painted gray and the sofa was upholstered in beige and gray twill. In the entrance hall, the 19th-century wooden sideboard that supports the bar came from a Brazilian coffee farm and is currently paired with the Taccia table lamp by Italian company FLOS . In the middle of the room, the old wooden trunk with rounded iron knobs (used by cattle drivers in the early 20th century to transport goods in the interior of Brazil) was transformed into a side table, while the wooden Coca-Cola crate, originally from the 1970s, was turned into a plant pot.

Some of the furniture designed by the architect also stands out in the social area. This is the case of the floor-to-ceiling bookcase filled with niches to display objects, books and works of art , space to accommodate a 65” TV and a fireplace built into the carpentry, made of white Paraná marble, beveled on the sides. Another original creation is the dining table with a top with rounded corners, supported by two conical bases, also made of white Paraná marble. In the kitchen , the architect adopted a clean, all-white style to increase the feeling of spaciousness and compensate for the lack of natural light and a beam that crosses the space in the middle. “We incorporated the beam into the design and used indirect lighting over the upper carpentry, making the space more welcoming, even though it is small,” he points out. In the architect's suite , it is worth highlighting the tufted headboard , filled with goose down and upholstered in twill, and the low bed (50 cm high), with bedside tables at the same height. Another highlight is the works of art next to the window: the larger black and white print is by urban architect Lucio Costa, and the smaller one is by painter Di Cavalcanti. The bedroom's reclaimed pink peroba floor was replicated in the suite's bathroom to maintain the same aesthetic language and give the idea of continuity between the spaces.