patios house by felipe hess encircles a central garden in brazil

a home partially buried into the brazilian landscape

In a lush corner of Itatiba, Brazil, Felipe Hess Arquitetos chooses to lean into the complex terrain rather than smooth it over, with its Patios House. The weekend residence in São Paulo’s countryside skips the mountain-top statement and opts instead for near invisibility. Here, the architecture is less a megaphone and more a whisper that responds to the terrain, tucking sensitively into the hillside.

The Patios House isn’t perched atop its site — it’s planted. The one-story home wraps around a central landscaped courtyard, with the main volume slipping between boulders like it was always meant to be there. Felipe Hess achieves a lightness by partially burying sections of the house into the sloped site, minimizing visual impact. The result is a residence that feels more like an extension of the landscape than a disruption of it, where vegetation flows fluidly from indoors to out, and the structure seems to exhale into the scenery.

images © Fran Parente

Patios house unfolds gradually

The spatial organization of the Patios House by Felipe Hess Arquitetos is as considered as its siting. Private spaces — bedrooms and quieter zones — are positioned by the architects at the back of the home, shielded by elegant wooden sunshades that allow filtered light inside while maintaining privacy from neighbors. These screens modulate sunlight and create a gentle dialogue with the rear courtyard, offering moments of pause. Meanwhile, social areas orbit the central garden patio, giving the home a dual character: introverted in some places, extroverted in others. The movement between these sunlit zones unfolds slowly and intentionally.

Felipe Hess Arquitetos designs the Patios House as a discreet weekend retreat in Itatiba, Brazil

felipe hess arquitetos celebrates lush nature

The material palette which shapes the Patios House reinforces Felipe Hess Arquitetos’s ethos of architectural humility. There’s no gloss, no ornamentation — just honesty in form and finish. Textures and tones are kept quiet so that the surrounding geology can speak louder. The house adopts the posture of a guest on the land: restrained, respectful, and ready to listen. Even the volumes are soft-edged, with subtle geometries that nod to the natural contours of the site rather than override them.

At its core, the Patios House is an exercise in coexistence. By embracing rather than erasing the site’s original features, especially the giant stones that once posed a design challenge, the house turns its constraints into compositional elements. Circulation routes are intuitive, drawing light and air through every corner, while the courtyard becomes both heart and hinge. Rather than a house with a view, it is a house within the view. A place where contemporary living is not carved into nature but grown with it.

the home is partially buried to reduce its visual impact and connect it with the landscape

the Patios House is embedded into a sloped site dotted with large natural boulders

movement between the sunlit home unfolds slowly and intentionally

the one-story residence is organized around a central landscaped courtyard

rather than a house with a view, it is a house within the view

the house adopts the posture of a guest on the land: restrained and respectful

1/10

floor plan

section

project info:

name: Patios House

architect: Felipe Hess Arquitetos | @felipehessarquitetos

location: Itatiba, Brazil

area: 345 square-meters

completion: 2023

design team: Felipe Hess, Lucas Miilher, Manuela Siffert
interior designer: Felipe Hess, Patricia Sturm
engineer: Zappacon Engenharia
structure: Benedictis Engenharia Ltda., Eng. Eduardo Duprat
foundations: APOIO Assessoria e Projetos de Fundações
landscaping: Flavia Tiraboschi Paisagismo
electrical, hydraulic: Ramoska&Castellani Proj. Assoc. Ltda
lighting: Cia de Iluminação
joinery: Bretas Marcenaria