House in Samambaia, located in Pétropolis, Brazil, is the project realized by Rodrigo Simão Arquitetura studio for the architect’s family. The residential building rests on a masonry foundation carved out of a hundred-year-old wall and combines domestic life with the nature of the place by integrating local stones and trees.

The house, consisting of a ground floor and a mezzanine, is accessible via a wooden walkway that starts from the garden and leads to an outdoor living, a double-height patio becoming an extension of the house itself. This area is also a passage to the atelier-dependance created for the artist Katharina Welper, architect’s wife. At the back, connected by an external corridor, a second annex houses a playroom equipped with ladder and slide.

House in Samambaia mantains a continuous dialogue with the landscape thanks to the presence of open spaces and terraces: the carbon steel structure allows for large openings and glazed areas that interconnect with the covered spaces. A curved roof, rising following the path of the rising sun, is composed of a metal structure and wood.

The lightness of the building is given by the presence of pillars made of steel pipes that are recessed against the edges of windows. Inside, the floor is made of polished concrete slabs and a swimming pool has been placed in the garden.