In the coastal town of Juquehy, Brazil, Lucio Fleury Arquitetura has designed a beachfront home that harmonizes its design with the local climate.
The house’s design, prominently featuring wood construction, is both a tribute to sustainable building practices and an adaptation to the region’s unique weather conditions.
Large eaves characterize the house’s facades, wrapping around the entire perimeter. These overhangs serve a dual purpose: they protect the structure, walls, and windows, thereby reducing maintenance needs, and they enhance the house’s aesthetic appeal. Openings are strategically placed to create a cross-ventilation axis, ensuring optimal thermal comfort throughout the interior.
The southern façade opens up completely to the stunning sea view, allowing the natural beauty of the coastline to permeate the living spaces. In contrast, the western façade is more enclosed, constructed with cellular concrete masonry. This side includes a staircase module shielded by vertical brises, filtering the setting sun’s light and softly illuminating the internal courtyard.
The property is relatively narrow, with a 14-meter frontage. Local regulations permit construction on only two-thirds of this width, resulting in a house just over nine meters wide. This presented a challenge: fitting three comfortable sea-view suites within this restricted space. The solution involved designing narrow but elongated rooms, ensuring each suite offers both comfort and a direct view of the sea. Ingeniously, the bathrooms feature windows to the bedrooms, allowing residents to enjoy the sea view even while showering.
The ground floor welcomes visitors through a side entrance leading to a garden courtyard that spans the house’s entire width. Adjacent to this garden, another courtyard is highlighted by a double-height ceiling and tile flooring that integrates seamlessly with the kitchen. This arrangement maximizes space use and enhances the home’s connectivity and openness.
The house features three wooden floors, made entirely of glued laminated wood from reforestation projects, with the ground floor supported by a suspended concrete slab and the upper floors and central roof structured by “wall panel” slabs on wooden beams. This innovative construction method ensures stability and durability while maintaining an eco-friendly footprint.
Color plays a significant role in the house’s design too. The natural hue of the wooden structure is already striking, but the architects accentuated this by using bold shades of blue on the upper floor facing the sea and vibrant yellow on the block facing the street. These colors highlight the architectural elements and reflect the lively, dynamic spirit of Juquehy.
Originally published in Mid- Century Home
Photos by Beware Collective
