21 October 2016

Blueprint Awards 2016: The winners

Best Non-Public Project - Residential

Winner: Marcio Kogan, Brazil
Jungle House, São Paulo, Brazil

Jungle House, São Paulo, Brazil

Judges Comments

‘Amazing and surreal insertion. Breathtaking!’ Lyndon Neri

‘The connection with the surrounding environment is exquisite’ Gregor Jackson

Located in the dense rainforest near the coast adjacent to São Paulo, Jungle House is a three-storey modern home that is designed to organically connect the architecture with nature. The main volume of the house is elevated from the ground and seems built into the landscape, projecting out from the mountainous topography and touching the ground with only two columns.

The organisation of the house is inverted, with living areas on the roof and bedrooms below. The ground-floor volume houses a large covered wooden deck and a shaded childrens’ play room, while on the first floor there are six bedrooms, five of which have small verandas with hammocks looking out onto the landscape. The top floor is the social area of the house, with a living room and kitchen, open on both sides, as well as an infinity pool, hot tub and sauna.

From the wooden deck on the ground floor the stairs to the house climb up the slope of the land and pass a luminous work by artist Olafur Eliasson. Inside, the architect sought to create a modern interior suitable to a tropical environment, with exposed concrete, wooden screens and brises-soleil mounted as folded doors that can be opened and closed according to the weather conditions.