FD House: Lakefront Retreat with Panoramic Views Over Brazilian Nature
FD House sits in Porto Feliz, Brazil, as a vacation house by Padovani Arquitetos composed around an L-shaped plan and far-reaching views. The project drops below street level to frame water, sky, and landscape while reserving the upper volume for more private daily rhythms. Across its open social core and broad eaves, the house invites friends and family into a relaxed, quietly cinematic setting.
A long roof edge cuts a thin line against the sky while wood and dark concrete slip beneath it in layered horizontals. From the lowered entry, the house reads as a quiet composition of planes framing a wide view of water and distant tree lines.
This is a vacation home in the interior of São Paulo, planned as a house for gatherings rather than solitary retreat. Padovani Arquitetos organizes the residence around an L-shaped layout and a steel structure that stretches toward the lake, using spans and level changes to orchestrate how people move, pause, and look out. Plan and circulation do the heavy lifting here: each volume positions daily life in calibrated relation to the view, the sun, and the surrounding garden.
Arriving Below Street
Street level stays high while the main body of the house steps down, so arrival begins with a subtle descent that shifts noise and horizon lines. The half level and upper block reveal themselves gradually, giving the first walk through the property a measured tempo that moves from enclosure toward openness. Wide and slender eaves trace this edge, resting lightly on the volume and signaling the upper floor as a quieter band above the social life below.
L-Shaped Social Core
At the bend of the L-shaped plan, a generous social area rises to a high ceiling and becomes the house’s central room. Light finishes amplify the height and breadth here, giving gatherings a sense of volume while maintaining a calm, even backdrop for movement and furniture. One side runs toward a gourmet zone and pool, while another edges closer to more intimate corners, so the same room can hold lively dinners and quieter conversations.
Framing Lake And Pool
Large glass openings sit along the long legs of the plan and pull views deep into the interior. From the social core, sightlines extend toward the lake at the back of the lot, then sweep across the pool and parallel social terraces, so each route through the house catches water and sky from a different angle. The outdoor living area, set under a lower ceiling, compresses height to create a cozier scale right at the edge between inside and garden.
Steel, Eaves, And Shade
Steel structure allows large spans that keep the ground floor open and free, letting rooms flow into one another without heavy interruptions. Above, continuous eaves run around the upper level, tying together wood slats, dark cladding, and concrete slats into a single horizontal gesture. This overhang protects glass, tempers sunlight, and lets residents keep doors wide while still holding a band of shade along the façade.
Light Against Dark Tones
Darker, more subdued exterior tones help the volume recede into planting and frame the garden in contrast to the bright interior surfaces. Inside, paler finishes pick up changing daylight, so the high social room feels expansive at midday while the lower outdoor living zone reads as a sheltered edge at dusk. Across the day, the house stays in conversation with light and landscape, giving family and guests a clear, legible route from street to water and back again.
Photography courtesy of Padovani Arquitetos
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