Casa Balanço: Contemporary Brazilian House Open to Garden and Sky Views
Casa Balanço stands on a steep site in São Carlos, Brazil, as a contemporary house by architect Luciana Lemos Bernasconi for a young, social family. The project draws together interior rooms, garden courtyards, and water to create a connected daily setting where living, cooking, and entertaining flow into one another. Across its U-shaped layout, concrete, stone, and glass work with light and breeze to keep the atmosphere open yet warm.
Late in the day, the garden glows softly. Sun traces the edges of concrete and stone while wide glass openings slide aside, pulling breeze and birdsong into the rooms.
Casa Balanço is a house in São Carlos, Brazil, planned by Luciana Lemos Bernasconi for a young family that moves easily between hosting friends and quiet weekday routines. The project leans on a U-shaped arrangement around a planted heart, keeping daily life close to the garden. Program, rather than gesture, drives each move: rooms open toward light, cross ventilation, and shared moments, while natural materials carry warmth through the interior.
Living Around The Garden
At the center, a carefully composed garden sets the tone for the house. All social rooms turn toward this planted void, so conversation, children’s play, and quiet pauses stay in visual contact with the greenery. Large glass doors slide aside to erase separation, extending the living and dining areas toward the lawn and planting beds. When closed, they still frame the foliage, bringing color and movement into daily meals.
Plan For Connected Days
The ground floor follows a U-shaped floor plan that binds kitchen, dining room, and living area into one continuous zone. That long sequence runs directly into the gourmet area and out toward the pool, so weekend gatherings move naturally between cooking, swimming, and conversation. Wide pivoting and sliding glass panels let the family close things down for a smaller evening or open everything for parties without changing the basic rhythm. Children cross freely from interior rooms to the yard, while the dog traces its own loop along the same clear path.
Terraced Levels And Views
The site rises steeply, with a strong upward slope and a privileged view. Instead of fighting that topography, the project sets the main floor at the highest point, allowing day-to-day life to meet the existing ground calmly. A lower level tucks into the terrain for the TV room, garage, and technical areas, reducing the visible volume and leaving the upper level free for lighter, more open rooms. This terraced arrangement keeps service functions out of the primary sightlines while preserving long views toward the horizon.
Social Life By The Water
The pool stands on the front side of the lot, a deliberate shift from the usual backyard placement. This move grants the more protected garden and living rooms extra privacy while giving swimmers the sunset view across the slope. From the social rooms, family and guests read the day’s end in the sky beyond the waterline, turning dusk into part of the routine. Even when not in use, the pool draws light into the house and anchors the outdoor gatherings that define the project.
Concrete, stone, and glass work together here as a calm backdrop for changing patterns of use. Light and cross ventilation move through the volumes, softening edges and keeping interiors comfortable without constant separation from the outside. As the family grows and weekends fill, Casa Balanço holds to its simple idea: everyday life unfolds around the garden and water, with the house quietly adjusting to each day’s rhythm.
Photography courtesy of Luciana Lemos Bernasconi
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