A Brazilian Summer House With Tropical Flourishes [Video]

Designed with family time in mind, this Brazilian summer house is decorated with tropical touches for a relaxed vacation vibe. The homeowners set just a few important guidelines for the project, with the principal desire being for a space in which the family could socialise and spend more time together. The skilful architectural team at NV Arquitetura devised an open layout that would give the family members an easy and continuous connection in the social living spaces. Other areas of the residence were created to maintain a comfortable level of privacy and practicality in the family holiday home. Stay till the end of the tour to see full floor plans and a video tour.

Photographer: Cristiano Bauce

This contemporary Brazilian summer house is located in the city of Florianópolis. Green landscaping thickly surrounds its perimeter in wild and tropical bursts.

The concrete brutalist exterior is interspersed with areas of rustic stone, which helps the home design merge with its natural environment. A wide driveway leads up to the front of the house, creating plenty of width for two cars to pass easily. A parallel footpath beats a straight line to the front door.

Balconies project from the top floor of the Brazilian summer home, providing outdoor sitting areas and panoramic views. Tall palm trees offer light screening from the driveway, supplying the owners with a feeling of privacy without blocking the vista.

Open-frame concrete canopies overhang outdoor areas to provide a little shadow, making them more comfortable under the Brazilian sunshine.

One of the concrete canopies serves as a mount for a hanging chair on the private terrace at the back of the house. A rectangle swimming pool runs alongside with cool blue inviting waters. The house wraps the pool terrace in a protective L-shaped arrangement. Tropical plants and the front fence enclose the remaining two sides.

Glass doors retract to join the main living areas with the pool terrace, creating many opportunities for family interactions, regardless of the activity each family member is engaged in. The open flow encourages an indoor-outdoor lifestyle without boundaries.

The walls of glass bring in soothing views of the thriving garden.

The green garden views colour much of the formal living room, where the panorama pours through walls of floor-to-ceiling windows and a unique letterbox of glazing along the foot of the TV wall. The beautiful views are reflected in a pair of large decorative mirrors behind the couch too, which disrupts a rich wood tone wall.

The tv wall makes a rustic statement in stone. Small indoor plants bring a touch of the garden inside.

A sociable seating arrangement pulls around the TV. Two wooden lounge chairs sit on one side of the living room rug, two brown leather chairs on the other, and a contrasting cool grey sofa stretches the length in between.

The lounge continues openly into a spacious dining room with dual aspect garden views. See more inspiration for how to create a dining room connected with nature.

The wooden dining table is evenly lit with a row of mini pendant lights. A unique fruit bowl makes an eye-catching, natural table centrepiece.

The open layout continues to flow around into the kitchen in a large L-shaped formation. A wood ceiling treatment warmly connects the kitchen and dining area together, and a white lighting track runs crisply between the two.

The master bedroom is bestowed with its own large balcony area.

Wooden shutters block out the morning sun to facilitate a longer rest.

Potted plants bring the garden upstairs.

Because this is a summer house, sunlight manipulation and ventilation were key.

Solar photovoltaic panels were also included in the design so that the home would demand the least amount of electricity, and a cistern was installed to capture and use rainwater

Sliding doors make the bedroom and balcony into one space.

A unique platform bed commands the centre of the room, where space is left to walk all the way around it. A TV and media console are placed upon an attractive stone feature wall at the foot of the bed.

A small floor lamp and simple side tables flank the bed. Discretion and easy maintenance were some of the main objectives in this luxury home design.

Doors on each side of the bedroom provide a through-breeze for thermal comfort.

A hallway of mirrored wardrobes makes a corridor of light.

Integrated spaces and uses increase opportunities for interaction. The sun terrace includes an outdoor kitchen and an alfresco dining area. A comfortable outdoor lounge with a soft sofa makes a welcoming spot for family members to linger and chat whilst dinner is cooked, or long after into the night.

Heavy wooden shutters rotate on their axis in the main hallway, to give relief from the bright environmental conditions.

Stylish snapshots of the interior area revealed to the outer environment, such as this unique floor lamp in the living room.

With the homeowners’ request for a home design that would encourage family time, the vision for this project was clear. An open plan living space with an easy flow into outdoor spaces was the solution for a sociable summertime.