Concrete House by Dayala e Rafael Arquitetos Associados
Concrete House occupies a steep lot in Goiânia, Brazil, where Dayala e Rafael Arquitetos Associados organize living across two tiered levels. The house reads as low, confident horizontals—social rooms flow at grade to a pool terrace, while a closed upper volume gathers the private rooms. Structural clarity drives the project, using long spans, cantilevers, and a lean material palette to settle the home into its terrain without heavy earthwork.
Concrete horizontals step with the hill, drawing a measured line against the slope. Under broad overhangs, light slips across brush-textured stone and smooth, cool slab.
This is a house on a steep site in Goiânia, organized by Dayala e Rafael Arquitetos Associados around long concrete spans and a careful reading of grade. The core move is structural: post-tensioned slabs and slender pillars set up large cantilevers, fewer supports, and clear edges that choreograph solids and voids.
The lower level holds social and leisure rooms with direct outdoor access; the upper level gathers private rooms inside a more closed, suspended volume with punctual openings to the landscape.
Volumes On Slope
Two principal levels track the natural topography rather than cut it. The lower tier meets the ground and the pool terrace, while the upper bar rides above, tight to its program and lifted to catch views. No abrupt transitions. Instead, the arrangement reads as an implantation that accommodates the incline and lets circulation step naturally across grade changes.
Span And Void
Post-tensioned slabs and reinforced concrete pillars do the heavy lifting, enabling long free spans and clean cantilevers. With fewer vertical supports, interiors open to one another and to the outside, and the structure itself marks thresholds between enclosed rooms and shaded terraces. The horizontality feels intentional, even didactic—spans articulate the reading of solids and voids, and the cantilevers set the cadence of shade.
Roof As Shade
A projecting roof extends the plan over the terrain, protecting the social areas while reinforcing the low, linear profile. It works hard: sun control, outdoor cover, and a crisp edge for rain and shadow throughout the day. The slab geometry, tuned proportions, and the dialogue between horizontal and vertical planes give the house its recognizable figure.
Material Contrast
Exposed concrete sets the tone, consistent inside and out. Brushed granite rises on selected vertical planes, adding a fine-grain texture that differentiates volumes without noise (and toughens wear surfaces where needed). The reduced palette supports clarity, keeping emphasis on the structure’s role and the measured play between mass, gap, and line.
Landscape In Strips
Planting follows the building’s logic, organized in bands that contour the footprint and soften edges. Native and tropical species stitch construction to ground, improving thermal comfort and giving the terraces a green buffer. Air moves under the overhangs. Light lands on leaves, then concrete, then water.
As day cools, the long eaves cast deeper shade and the structural lines sharpen. The house holds its contour against the slope, calm in profile and precise in its assembly.
Photography by Joana França
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