布拉萨西玛府邸丨巴西圣卡塔琳娜丨Studio Arthur Casas

Bravíssima House occupies a steep site in Itajaí, Brazil, where Studio Arthur Casas reworks a pre-existing structure into a family house closely tied to the terrain. The 2025 project places social spaces on the entry level and private rooms below, using wood, stone, plaster, and broad openings to connect daily life with vegetation and the sea.

About Bravíssima House

Bravíssima House stands between native vegetation and the ocean on a steeply sloped site within Bravíssima Private Residence in Itajaí, Santa Catarina. Rather than begin from scratch, Studio Arthur Casas takes over a pre-existing skeleton originally built for a speculative project and thoroughly reconfigures it for a family of four.

That decision shapes the house as much as the setting does. The studio preserves most of the initial construction and limits structural changes, then redirects the program toward everyday family life, frequent gatherings, and the surrounding landscape. The result is not a neutral retrofit but a house that uses an inherited frame to make the site more present.

The natural incline determines the organization. On the entrance level, the social spaces open directly across the living room, dining area, and pool, drawing the eye outward to sea views filtered through greenery. Below, the private rooms sit closer to the forest, including bedrooms and a spa on the master suite terrace. The split gives the public areas a broad outward reach while keeping the more intimate rooms sheltered and quiet.

Material continuity is central to that reading of the house. Wood leads the palette from the exterior inward, where it appears in oak millwork, ceilings, and circulation spaces, including the main helical stair. Stone and plastered walls add texture inside and out, while Vermont limestone runs across walls and floors to maintain continuity between interior and exterior surfaces. Brushed metal details mark the wet areas with a sharper, cooler note.

Studio Arthur Casas also uses the layout to keep movement fluid without dissolving distinctions between zones. The social rooms remain expansive, but the private spaces are set apart with discretion. Large openings and skylights bring natural light deep into the house, reducing reliance on artificial lighting, and cross ventilation supports passive thermal comfort. These are practical moves, but they also sharpen the sense that the house is aligned with the slope rather than imposed on it.

Inside, the furnishing strategy reinforces openness to the landscape. In the living room, sofas and armchairs are arranged to preserve circulation and uninterrupted sightlines toward the sea and vegetation. The studio mixes its own pieces, including the Fusca sofa, Construflama fireplace, Aiso coffee table, Amorfa dining table, and Max chairs, with works by Jorge Zalszupin and Percival Lafer. Contemporary artworks by Mano Penalva and José Bechara, along with Marco Tulio Rezende’s sculptures in the dining area, give the rooms a denser visual rhythm without breaking their connection to the view.

The landscaping by Renata Tilli extends that approach outdoors. It follows the existing topography, connects paths and gathering areas to natural clearings, and avoids removing plant species. In Bravíssima House, the site is not treated as a backdrop. It remains an active structure for the project, guiding routes, framing perspectives, and tying the house to the ground it occupies.