Project: Villa Yandara / Location: Bahia, Brazil / Size: 1,000 m² / Architect: Padovani Arquitetos / Location: São Paulo and Campinas, Brazil / Landscape Design: Daniel Nunes / Construction: Hauz Construções / Photography: Fran Parente
Located in Trancoso, Brazil, Villa Yandara by Padovani Arquitetos was born from the desire to translate the tropical features of the Brazilian coast into the architecture of a home. More than a residence, the project is a continuous sensory experience between the built and the natural, where landscape ceases to be a backdrop and becomes a part of the inhabited space, the architects say. The result is a home that blends nature with design.
Yandara sits on a flat lot, bordered by native vegetation that blends with the proposed landscaping and guides the path toward the residence. The architecture is positioned perpendicular to the pool’s design, which extends toward the sea and is framed by the landscape.
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The ground floor is organized as a transversal slab, level with the street. Entry to the residence is through the center of the volume, immediately flanked by a reflecting pool that frames the arrival and foreshadows the house’s contemplative character.
“Upon entering, the eye travels directly to the outdoor area and the sea, with no physical barrier in between — the boundaries between interior and exterior dissolve subtly, reinforced by openings in the floor that hold dense gardens and guide the path from the entrance hall to the remaining spaces,” the architects say. “To the right, the private program is concentrated, with three suites — one of them a master — and a home theater; to the left, the communal spaces: living room, dining room, kitchen, gourmet area, sauna and changing room.”
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Residents access the upper floor via a spiral staircase positioned at the center of the entrance hall. This prominent architectural element is clad in biriba, the material that structures the entire language of the house. On the upper floor, two blocks are connected by a walkway: on one side, the master suite, with bedroom, bathroom, closet and a deck with a private garden; on the other side, three additional suites, one of them with a deck and a shared garden, link to the lower floor by its own staircase.
Materiality is important to the project’s success. “The glue-laminated timber structure organizes the roof into a rhythmic sequence of slats that shape the façade and support the biriba ceiling, which is sustained by metal columns distributed sparingly along the external veranda so as not to interfere with the architectural composition or the view to the sea,” the architects say in the project statement. “Biriba repeats as the primary finish on ceilings, panels, walls and the staircase, always in dialogue with tresuno — a cooler-toned material used on walls and ceilings — which sets the tropical against the contemporary and gives the residence its balance between Brazilian roots and a modern spirit.”
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In the interior design, wood returns at specific points, such as selected furniture pieces and custom cabinetry finishes, while green stones mark the wet areas, standing out against the tresuno cladding. The furniture, organic and contemporary in design, adopts tones of green, blue and beige that plays off the surrounding landscape, which in turn establishes a direct dialogue with the surrounding nature.
A mosaic of stones shapes the outdoor pathways, guiding the route to the house entrance and tracing the entire leisure area. The pool runs perpendicular to the built volume, aligning the axis from the entrance hall to the view of the sea and composing the house’s principal frame. The vegetation, distributed in organic planting beds, is positioned to preserve the direct view to the ocean while integrating with the existing landscape, drawing on tropical and native species in constant pursuit of harmony with the site.
