Excerpt: Txai Bungalow by TETRO Arquitetura is designed through a direct relationship with the topography, vegetation, and climate. The concept is centered on shade, inspired by the seawater, coconut trees, and light filtered through their leaves. The residence integrates with the landscape through different levels, organic circulation, planted roofs, and earthy materials, creating a contemporary relationship between shelter, shade, and nature.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Located in Itacaré, on the southern coast of Bahia, Txai Bungalow occupies an elevated slope facing the sea. From the site, the view opens almost 180 degrees over the ocean, above the existing palm and coconut trees. Isolated in the middle of nature, the house is organized through a direct relationship with the topography, the vegetation, and the climate.
In this place, what matters is shade. The seawater, the coconut trees, and the light filtered through their leaves guided the main design decisions. This idea appears most clearly in the roof of the social space: a glass structure protects the room, while a lower layer of biriba wood filters the natural light. Throughout the day, the shadows move across the floor and the surfaces of the house, creating an atmosphere in constant transformation, close to the experience of being under the canopy of a coconut tree.
The program is distributed across four blocks placed at different levels of the site. Two volumes house the guest suites, with two bedrooms each; the main suite occupies an isolated block at the highest part of the land; and the central volume brings together the living room, dining area, gourmet space, and pool. Between them, circulation takes place outdoors, through organic decks, stairs, and garden paths. To move from the bedrooms to the social area, one crosses the landscape, making the act of walking an essential part of the experience of the house.
The steep slope of the site allows all the main rooms to be oriented toward the sea. The bedrooms, the main suite, and the social area open to the same landscape, each from a different level. On the level of the living room, the infinity pool visually extends the space toward the ocean, bringing the color of the pool water closer to the color of the sea.
The bedroom blocks are covered by planted slabs, reducing the presence of the construction on the slope and reinforcing its integration with the landscape. The angular walls, in a slightly pinkish earth tone, establish a relationship with the soil, the cliffs, and the rustic materials of Bahia. At the same time, their irregular geometry introduces a contemporary language, one that does not literally reproduce local architecture, but takes it as a starting point to build a new relationship between shelter, shade, and nature.
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