PROJECT NARRATIVE
The project is located in a large condominium a few hours out of São Paulo, where the family lives. It is a weekend house where the client requested a space for leisure time with contemporary approach of the landscape, echoing the architecture.
The dwellers are welcomed by a front garden where ornamental grasses offer lightness to the bold façade; the movement of the grasses by the wind gives a feeling of making it float over the vegetation. Brazilian ironwood trees were planted in this front garden and eventually will form a canopy that will merge into the existing trees in the surroundings.Two symmetrical pergolas serve as parking and the water cascade exactly in the middle
separates the front garden from a courtyard with a Golden Trumpet tree. The back garden was a sloped terrain and was molded into 3 different levels , each one for a different purpose, but always making the most of the view to the horizon. Earthworks played a main role in this part of the project, all earth that was excavated to build the house and from other parts of the terrain was used to backfill the garden.
On the level of the house there's a lawn and a wooden deck that offer a gathering space and where the family can admire the view. An ecological fire pit offers a cozy exterior lounge for the colder days.
The negative edge pool blends with the landscape and plants like bamboo and trees offer privacy from the neighbors and emphasize the view.
The middle level is a contemplative and ludical garden where the terrain was shaped into plateaus, each one framed by a corten steel retaining walls with embedded led lighting. The topiary plants reflect the shape of this garden and the grasses offer it some movement . A bridge covered by grass is an interesting feature of this topography sculpted garden. Two cantilevered terraces, also covered by grass, offer a priviledged view to the soccer field on the lower level. Each of this terraces are shaded by a native fruit tree named Jabuticaba.
All plants were grown by local nurseries and are either native or adapted so irrigation uses as little water as possible.