GF House by Padovani Arquitetos
GF House sits in Itupeva, SP, Brazil, where Padovani Arquitetos shapes a lakefront house around a precise T-shaped plan and layered volumes. The residence unfolds as a sequence of social and private rooms oriented to the water, with landscaping and material choices reinforcing a quiet, contemporary character. Inside, earthy tones, generous ceiling heights, and a glass-walled wine cellar anchor a warm approach to everyday living and leisure.
From the street, stone, slats, and concrete hold a calm line. As the approach moves inward, the composition breaks open toward a large lake, and light begins to skim across long eaves and glazed walls.
Within this first transition, the project establishes its focus on how people see, move, and gather rather than on a single grand gesture. GF House is a contemporary house in Itupeva, SP, Brazil, drawn by Padovani Arquitetos as a T-shaped volume that hinges daily routines around water and landscape. The work gives equal weight to outdoor terraces, tall interior rooms, and the in-between thresholds that keep the eye on the lake.
Layering Volumes To The Lake
A clear T-shaped layout organizes the house so that both social and private rooms stretch toward the lake rather than back to the street. At the rear, long horizontal lines and carefully placed openings align views with the water, turning the lake into the central reference for everyday scenes and gatherings. The plan sets an extended sequence of living, dining, and leisure areas that read as one lakefront band, while the more protected parts of the house sit behind the front facade’s controlled rhythm.
Managing Privacy And Presence
Toward the street, the composition tightens around stone walls, vertical slats, and exposed concrete that temper direct views inside and mark a more private edge. This front facade uses the contrast between warm wooden tones and lighter stone surfaces to create depth and shadow, letting landscaping soften edges and pull vegetation up against the building. Behind this filtered shell, the interior opens incrementally, so the sense of privacy at arrival gives way to a more expansive presence once people turn toward the lake.
Horizontal Eaves And Metal Structure
On the upper level, generous eaves stretch out over the bedroom line, drawing a sharp horizontal datum that stabilizes the composition against the open landscape. Below, a lighter base volume supports a darker second level whose metal structure and glazed surfaces keep the mass from feeling heavy. Dark framing and slats sit against glass to create a delicate outline, while the metal structure allows long spans and deep overhangs that protect rooms from direct sun and extend covered outdoor living.
Interior Palette And Vertical Connection
Inside, a double-height living area becomes the core of vertical communication, putting the relationship between floors on open display rather than hiding it away. Earthy and light tones carry across floors, walls, and furnishings, tying together tall surfaces and low seating in a steady, warm register. A glass-walled wine cellar adds a luminous focal point to the social zone, while internal lounging areas cluster around it to create an informal gathering point. Landscaping slips indoors at selected moments, softening edges and reinforcing the visual continuity with gardens and water outside.
Leisure Terraces Across Three Levels
Around the lake-facing side, the leisure program unfolds across three levels that follow the natural change in elevation instead of flattening it. Indoor and outdoor social rooms take on an L-shaped arrangement that wraps the leisure court, allowing people to move from shaded interiors straight to terraces without clear breaks. The sequence steps down toward the water, where a beach tennis court, barbecue area, and swimming pool anchor activity and frame long views across the lake and planting.
As daylight shifts, the horizontal eaves cast deep shade while glass surfaces catch reflections from the water and garden. The house holds its calm profile to the street, yet life plays out along the lakefront edge in rooms and terraces tuned to light, texture, and the measured rhythm of daily use.
Photography courtesy of Padovani Arquitetos
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