The Mountain House

Marcio Kogan really is the master of proportion and scale as we have often seen in his striking designs using large floating volumes and open space. It is wonderful then to see his skill turned to a different style of home and what’s more, to see the same triumph of proportion achieved.

This home, located in the mountains 180kms outside Sao Paolo, has been designed with some key, yet simple, defining factors. First, the home needed to provide a space for client to be protected from the unusually (for Brazil) cold mountain environment. In response to this, the architect has created a glass enclosed wing to house the pool and terrace. Further, the client wanted the home to have a cost effective construction. This was achieved through making many components of the house off-site and simply assembling them on-site, this also had the side effect that the build time on site was much shorter than normal.

Internally, timber has been used on the walls and ceiling to give warmth and texture to the space, while the stone floor provides a grounding, strong element to the interiors.

I love that although this house is clearly on an impressive scale, it has the feeling of a cosy cabin tucked in the woods.

Story by Brendan Guy, follow him on Instagram MrBrendanGuy

Images:  Fernando Guerra