Platinum Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2025
Valencia House
- A' Design Award 2025 Platinum Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Padovani Arquitetos
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 730,270
- Verification code CBE1D269A3 · Verify this award
About Valencia House
Valencia House, a summer retreat in Sao Paulo's countryside, seamlessly integrates nature and architecture. Designed by Padovani Arquitetos, the residence balances spacious social areas with privacy, featuring seven suites, a pool, and a gym. The design follows the topography, minimizing verticality while emphasizing horizontal lines. Panoramic views, strategic block overlays, and Brazilian vernacular materials like wood and stone enhance its harmony with the landscape, ensuring aesthetic, functional, and cultural authenticity.
Valencia House by Padovani Arquitetos emerges as a compelling exemplar of contemporary residential architecture that demonstrates profound sensitivity to landscape integration and climatic responsiveness, positioning itself within the broader tradition of regional modernism that seeks harmony between constructed form and natural environment. The architectural composition achieves remarkable visual equilibrium through its emphatic horizontal orientation, where extended roof planes appear to float above transparent ground-level volumes, creating a sense of gravitational suspension that suggests both shelter and openness. The material palette demonstrates sophisticated restraint, with warm timber and oxidized metal tones establishing chromatic continuity with the surrounding agricultural landscape while the geometric precision of the built form asserts human presence within the pastoral expanse. Particularly noteworthy is the architects' treatment of the intermediate landscape zone, where carefully orchestrated garden rooms, water features, and hardscape elements create a graduated transition from domestic intimacy to territorial vastness. The swimming pool functions as both programmatic element and compositional device, its precise geometry and reflective surface introducing coolness and repose within the warm chromatic environment. The relationship between the primary dwelling volume and its ancillary structures demonstrates masterful understanding of scale and proportion, while the integration of mature palm specimens suggests ongoing dialogue between architectural and botanical elements. This work invites contemplation of how contemporary architecture might achieve regional specificity while engaging with universal principles of spatial organization and material expression, posing questions about the nature of dwelling within expansive landscapes and the role of constructed form in mediating between human habitation and natural systems.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Located in the countryside of São Paulo, Valencia House is a carefully designed summer retreat aimed at bringing the family together amidst the tranquility of the countryside. The central concept of the project is to promote a direct integration between the natural environment and the interior of the residence, achieved through spacious and permeable social spaces.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Gross Built Area: 1,500 square meters.
- Tags
- brazilian architecture, brazilian design, contemporary architecture, luxury houses.
- Production Technology
- The vacation home’s exterior materials were selected for aesthetics and durability. Natural stone, exposed concrete, lime beton, and wooden slats define its appearance, while the pool features natural Hijau stone. Structurally, reinforced concrete ensures solidity, while a metal framework supports larger openings and lighter volumes. This combination blends rustic and contemporary elements, optimizing efficiency and integrating the residence harmoniously with its natural surroundings.
- Design Challenge
- The changes that occurred throughout the development process were primarily related to adapting and optimizing the initial concepts to ensure their feasibility and alignment with the client’s practical needs.
The approved proposal differs from the conceptual one mainly in its materialization and detailing to meet the project's technical requirements. While the volumetry and design principles remain intact, adjustments and refinements were incorporated to ensure successful execution and contextual suitability. - Project Duration
- The project started in 2020 and finished in 2022 in Porto Feliz - São Paulo, Brazil.
- Operation Flow
- The owners, a couple in their 40s, embody cultural harmony. A Spanish financier settled in Brazil and his Brazilian wife live with their children in São Paulo. Seeking a vacation home for leisure and family moments, they desired a retreat blending comfort, beauty, and nature. The design features spacious, welcoming areas, seamlessly integrating indoor and outdoor spaces. With seven suites, a pool, and a gym, the house balances functionality, aesthetics, and comfort, meeting the clients’ expectations.
- Inspiration
- The vacation home design was shaped by an initial sketch, serving as a foundation for its conception. Respecting the topography, the main block was partially embedded in the terrain, minimizing verticality and integrating with the natural slope. Slender lines and horizontal elements balance the scale of the three-story structure. Key factors included panoramic views, terrain adaptation, and strategic block overlays, ensuring harmony with the environment while providing functional living spaces.
- Image Credits
- Main Image #1: Fran Parente, Valencia House, 2023.
Optional Image #1: Fran Parente, Valencia House, 2023.
Optional Image #2: Fran Parente, Valencia House, 2023.
Optional Image #3: Fran Parente, Valencia House, 2023.
Optional Image #4: Fran Parente, Valencia House, 2023.