Project: Taquari House
Architects: Estúdio Empena
Location: Brasilia, Brazil
Area: 5,112 sf
Year: 2023
Photographs by: Joana França
Taquari House by Estúdio Empena
Inspired by a poem about nature’s embrace, this Brasília home isn’t your typical dwelling. Light and open spaces blur the lines between indoors and outdoors, creating a seamless connection with lush greenery. Three strategically placed trees enhance the feeling of being enveloped by nature, while a reflecting pool and rooftop garden add to the tranquil atmosphere.
Despite its openness, the house ensures privacy through a clever layout and hidden garage access. The ground floor is designed for togetherness, featuring a living room, kitchen, and courtyards that create a central hub for relaxation and socializing. Upstairs, bedrooms offer unobstructed city views, while the reinforced concrete structure with minimal spans creates a light and airy feel.
This unique home reflects a desire to connect with nature and loved ones, offering a tranquil escape in the heart of Brasília.
“Sometimes light, sometimes shadow. The body moves as if it could speak on its own. It thanks the pulses of nature for connecting the soul to the sky tinged with colors that choose the horizon, a mantle for all people. Bare feet shrink at the cold touch of the plunge into the waters. And they, so admiring, speak directly to the stars. Sometimes light, sometimes shadow. The body traverses the space in the desire to be. And time becomes a shelter. There is no disguise there for the truth of each path.” Poem by Izabela Brettas
In a neighborhood adjacent to Brasília’s Plano Piloto, where one can enjoy broad views of the city, lies a flat, corner plot measuring 20x40m (800m²). The design prioritizes visual permeability while safeguarding privacy. Given its prime location, the choice of a two-story structure emerged naturally to ensure unobstructed views from the bedrooms and to free up the ground floor space to fulfill one of the main project goals: spreading green areas throughout the house.
The upper floor houses the bedrooms, while on the ground floor, by interspersing and distributing the living room, kitchen, and garage along an axis, two courtyards were conceived: an internal one, containing the staircase, and an external one, giving the kitchen the qualities of a veranda. Three trees are prominent elements at strategic points in the project: one at the entrance, another in the kitchen courtyard, and the third in the leisure area. The ipê tree at the front façade was chosen for its significance as one of the most emblematic species of the region, especially during its flowering season, which becomes a highlighted moment of the year. A reflecting pool elevates part of the house and complements the landscape of the entrance plaza, where a bench is strategically positioned under the ipê. This plaza serves as a transition from the public space to the residence entrance, without exposing the garage, whose access was moved to the side street.
One of the main challenges faced, besides organizing the extensive program, was the adaptation of the garage, due to the limited space available for the side access ramp. In this context, the natural elevation of the terrain played a crucial role. This configuration allowed the front façade not to require large gate openings, giving it a contemplative character. The reinforced concrete structure was designed without large spans, establishing a careful dialogue between the ground-floor and the second-floor spaces, aiming for constructive efficiency and cost savings in execution. The most elaborate structural detail can be observed at the residence’s entrance, where an inverted beam and an inclined slab invite access. Additionally, the house is subtly elevated from the ground through visible ground beams, conferring a lightness of support in relation to the soil.
