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House Built Around a Tree in Alto de Pinheiros

Luxury contemporary villa and pool in SP, Brasil design by Perkins+Will architects

post updated 26 December 2025

Architects: Perkins+Will

Location: Alto de Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil

House Built Around a Tree

Photos by Nelson Kon

27 June 2019

House Built Around a Tree in São Paulo

Architects Perkins + Will was hired by a family from São Paulo, Brazil for the construction of their new residence, located at Alto de Pinheiros, a traditional neighborhood of the capital.

The land, with approximately 1,000 square meters, was purchased because its natural characteristics; about 50% of it was occupied by a generous garden, including an impressive Flamboyant tree.

For this reason, the respect of these conditions was the big challenge in this project.

The Flamboyant became the main icon of the project, making all the solutions be designed according to the tree. Located on the eastern corner of the site, the Flamboyant was three-dimensionally digitized, thus being able to define the constructive guidelines without threaten its well-being.

Once the ‘protagonist’ was defined, it should be visible to all. Starting from this principle, the living/dining room and balcony (common areas and reception) should be closely linked to it.

These social areas were covered by a structural wood grid (developed with the well-known Brazilian engineer Hélio Olga) that folds them and connects the backyard garden to the Street, making this architectonic element most striking.

The design of this structure was only possible thanks to the three-dimensional mapping made in the beginning of the process, because the dimensions and grid heights have been set to reduce to the maximum the impact on the landscape.