EL House Itajobi Finds Calm in Slate, Brick, and Sunlit Greens Beyond
EL House Itajobi sits in Itajobi, Brazil, where a 1964 farmhouse gains a careful second life. Serpa Comunicação leads a rural house refurbishment grounded in memory, material reuse, and a clear connection to the surrounding vegetation. The project weaves farm-sourced timber, reclaimed brick, and slate into a calm, practical home for a retired couple. Light, views, and a kitchen-centered plan pull daily life toward the landscape.
Morning light reaches the old coffee farm, grazing slate and wood with a soft sheen. Pivot glass doors swing wide to the trees, and the kitchen breathes.
This is a rural house in Itajobi, renewed by Serpa Comunicação with a clear material brief: keep what matters and build from it. The renovation leans on reclaimed timber, brick, and simple cement finishes to carry the home’s memory forward. Material choices do the talking, linking present routines to a working-farm past.
Reuse The Past
Original timber from the property returns as doors, windows, and ceiling planes. Grain and knots read like a ledger of seasons, steady and calm. Reclaimed bricks form the wood-burning stove, the visible hearth that gives the kitchen its anchor and a steady daily rhythm. Slate on the countertops and cement underfoot keep maintenance low and tactility high, while a simple render preserves the rural character without gloss.
Kitchen As Hearth
The plan brings cooking, dining, and lounging into one open volume, then deepens it with a gourmet zone for bigger gatherings. A central island sets the pace for work and conversation, clean in form and generous in reach. An original pass-through window links inside to the outdoor area, a small, useful aperture that turns serving and chatting into one gesture—old idea, fresh utility. The stove’s brick mass and the island’s slate top create a tangible center for the room.
Quiet Private Wing
Three bedrooms consolidate along one side, ordered by a central hallway with a shared bathroom. The move simplifies circulation and tucks rest away from the social rooms. Doors in reclaimed wood temper sound and light, and the corridor’s steady proportions lend calm to daily routines. It’s a modest shift, but it makes mornings smoother and nights quiet.
Openings And Canopy
At the rear, large pivot glass doors open the 140-square-metre home to dense vegetation and steady breezes. The boundary softens, and indoor life tilts outward. Up front, smaller apertures act as deliberate viewfinders, catching sightlines of the towering kapok tree that holds the façade in its shade. Light lands where it’s wanted, and heat stays at bay.
Objects With Roots
A dining table carved from farm timber, an oxcart resting on the veranda, a crochet cloth recast as sculpture, and ferns grown by the resident give texture to daily life. Each piece carries a story, but together they read as one material narrative of use and care. Nothing feels ornamental; everything has weight and touch.
Late afternoon returns to the stove’s slow glow and the slate’s cool surface. Air moves through the pivot doors, the kapok tree holding the edge of the day. In this house, materials keep memory close and everyday living easy.
Photography courtesy of Serpa Comunicação
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