September 23, 2026 | DESIGN & INTERIORS
CASA DA REPRESA
words Noah Mercer
photos Courtesy of 24-7 Arquitetura
On the edge of a reservoir in the Brazilian countryside, 24 7 Arquitetura shapes a family retreat around timber, landscape and memory.
A RURAL ARCHETYPE, REFRAMED
Casa da Represa was conceived during the pandemic as a weekend retreat for a young family with two children — a place for long stays, gatherings and time away from the city. The clients had been drawn to another house by 24 7 Arquitetura, a single-storey project on a horse farm with the proportions of a barn. When they acquired a large site by a reservoir, that familiar rural archetype became the starting point.
Founded in 2008 by architects Gustavo Tenca and Giuliano Pelaio, the Campinas-based practice has developed a body of work shaped by climate, topography and a careful use of natural resources. At Casa da Represa, that approach begins with the landscape itself.
Set within more than 24,000 square metres of land, the house sits between forest, water and distant mountain views. Rather than flattening the site, the architects divided the programme across three staggered levels, allowing the building to follow the natural slope.
FOLLOWING THE LAND
The central pavilion gives the house its clearest identity, with a pitched roof and dark timber exterior. Lower volumes extend from it, keeping the composition close to the ground and reducing the sense of scale. Green roofs help the architecture recede further into the landscape.
Large openings frame the reservoir and surrounding forest, but the relationship with nature is not only visual. Orientation, natural ventilation and material performance were considered from the beginning. Cross ventilation allows the main social spaces to function without air conditioning, supported by insulation and carefully positioned openings.
BUILT IN TIMBER
The structure itself extends this relationship with the site. Casa da Represa was developed using a CLT — cross-laminated timber — system, chosen as a more sustainable alternative to conventional construction.
Timber defines both the architecture and its atmosphere. Charred wood wraps the central volume and continues into selected interiors, including the wine cellar, kitchen, games room and barbecue area. Its darker surface is balanced by Tauari wood flooring throughout the principal living and private spaces.
Stone introduces a cooler counterpoint: basalt in the barbecue area, Itaúnas granite in the bathrooms and limestone around the pool. Outside, a pine deck extends the house towards the landscape.
The palette is deliberately restrained. Rather than layering finishes, the architecture relies on the contrast between timber, stone and glass, allowing the materials themselves to carry much of the character.
MEMORY IN THE INTERIOR
The most personal layer of Casa da Represa comes from another house altogether. At the beginning of the project, the clients took the architects to the family’s old farmhouse, built in 1870 and once home to their Portuguese great-grandparents. A selection of furniture and objects from the house was then brought into the new residence.
A solid-wood chaise longue, benches, sideboards, lamps, paintings, porcelain, cabinetry and a dressing table now sit alongside contemporary Brazilian design.
They are not treated as historic objects or arranged with nostalgia. Instead, they are absorbed naturally into the interiors, giving the house a sense of continuity that new architecture rarely achieves.
Casa da Represa finds its character in this balance: between rural form and contemporary construction, between the scale of the house and the landscape around it, and between a new family retreat and objects carried forward from an earlier one.
