Isolated within Rio de Janeiro’s bucolic landscape, an abandoned stable is reinterpreted as a country home, becoming an extension of its setting.
Palisaded by the idyllic mountainous ranges of Fazenda São João de Icaraí, Itaipava, where the city’s affluent society frequents it for its winter escape, one home becomes a countryside refuge. Formerly an abandoned stable, the building was entrusted to architect Lucas Jimeno Dualde to revive the 80-year-old structure into a commodious family home where the owners could host their family and friends. Born in Barcelona, Spain, Dualde’s practice fluidly spans architecture, interior design and furniture.
To preserve the original architecture, Dualde’s approach to the brief focused on programming two distinct living spaces, communal and private. The spatial design was informed by the building’s history, taking “The proportions that were originally intended for each purpose as guiding the process for a new use,” Dualde explains. The former horse stables were rezoned for private living spaces because of their low ceilings and compact, axially oriented layout. While diagonally across the home, the stalls serve as the living room and kitchen, with the food storage area converted into an outdoor barbecue area. From there, the architect set out to connect the two living zones through passages forming a U-shaped pavilion around a courtyard and pool, describing the experience as “a procession—a moment to pause without thinking about it—it’s like the house revealing itself.”
The dining room features a Lucas Jimeno Dualde custom-designed dining table.
Throughout the home, Olaria Elementum cement tiles are featured.
Once the programme was established, Dualde says, “We tried to bring a contemporary and adapted silence to our intervention, harmonising with its history.” Through the architect’s pursuit of a reductive material palette, natural, earthy tones were used to render the home, enabling it to be absorbed into and enveloped by its environment rather than imposing on it. “Working with one brick, one type of wood and one texture, we tried to solve as much as possible. It was essential to bring in local artisans to work with both wood and natural stone,” Dualde explains.
Blurring the lines between the exterior and interior, clay finishes were seamlessly applied to the home’s walls and ceilings, while terracotta cement tiles and timber flooring were used to create continuity. With only a single monochromatic deviation bestowed, a blue corridor emerges, marking spatial transitions. Furnished in a primitivist style, the home features some of Dualde’s own custom-designed pieces, including a sofa, dining and coffee tables, along with native artworks and sculptures, all of which work collectively to forge an accord with its setting.
Through Duade’s conception of Casa Itaipava, he concludes that the project is where “Architecture, rural history, and contemporary life converge in a balance that allows the house to be, at once, document and dwelling.”
Pictured opposite the fireplace are a pair of Concha armchairs by Carlo Hauner & Martin Eisler. The living room library features local Brazilian artworks and sculptures, including Ex-votos from Galeria Estação.
Featured in the living room is a Lucas Jimeno Dualde custom-designed sofa and coffee table.
Pictured in the hallway are sculptures ‘Set Design’ by Nino from Galeria Estação.
