Introducing the house we would never leave from: Txai House by Studio MK27, situated in Itacaré, near Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. A masterful example of fine Brazilian modernism.
The 7,000 square foot house offers a radical experience of integration between the inside and out. It does not look like it is a place to drink coconut water, swaying in the hammocks. It is one. The tropical atmosphere of Bahia impregnates all of the spaces perfectly.
“Located in front of a beautiful beach in the city of Itacaré, 13 meters above the sea level, the house has a beautiful view over the coast. On the lower floor, there is the living room. With a large veranda, it becomes an open space. The kitchen is joined to this social area, facing the dining room and contained within a wooden volume. In front of this space, there is an infinity pool and a solarium with chaise-longs. In the back, a patio with vegetation ends up allowing for cross-ventilation in the area. And, what we loved about it, on the roof of this first floor there is an open wooden deck with a wonderful view of the sea. On this second floor are also the bedrooms, located under the pitched roof in colorful wooden and stucco volumes.
The bathrooms extend outside of the roof and are all opened to the outside, having their own individual gardens defined by walls, like patios. The doors in front of the rooms look out to a generous 2.5m-wide veranda where the hammocks rest on the recycled wood roof. The mashrabiya doors – a wooden latticed element, traditional in modern and colonial Brazilian architecture – shade the interior of the bedrooms, allowing the breeze to pass; and they can remain completely open for complete control of the interior light.
The materials used in the house are all local. Efforts were made to also have raw finishings that age well in the aggressive tropical coastal climate. In the case of the volumes, using a color chart inspired by the local houses, the architecture sought live and pure colors which, when applied on the wooden mashrabiya, contributes to the durability of the material in creating a thick layer of protection against the salt air“, stated the architects of this masterpiece.
[All images were shot by and are courtesy of © Fernando Guerra.]
