A refuge in dialogue with the sky. House in Leblon by Agencia TPBA

The architecture practice Agencia TPBA has designed House in Leblon as a house located in the middle of a dense urban block in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on a hanging plot at a height of 25 meters above ground level. A green perimeter serves as a filter between the exterior and the interior of the house.

The living space has no physical functions or activities; it is intended to serve as a refuge where the urban dweller can escape from the city while being in the midst of it. The project evokes intimacy for the users that enters into a dialogue in contrast with the sky and the noise of the city outside.

House in Leblon by Agencia TPBA. Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas.

The project developed by Agencia TPBA has only one room equipped with a fixed function with a small kitchen, a toilet and a workshop. The rest of the floor is diaphanous, partly covered and partly outside, finding in the middle of this space a mirrored cylinder that hides the presence of a large volume for technical ventilation, while offering space for a maintenance closet.

In the covered space, a glass roof allows natural lighting of the interior space, while a wooden grille protects it from direct sunlight. The mirror-polished stainless steel structure supports the roof, leaving free the structural axis that allows a system of frameless sliding glass panels to delimit the space.

House in Leblon by Agencia TPBA. Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas.

Project description by Agencia TPBA

This idyllic house in the sky is situated in the middle of a dense urban block, yet set on a hanging plot 25 meters above the ground. The 20x10m green perimeter, made of a precise modular structure of steel profiles and built-in planters, acts as a filter that mediates the inside/outside visual relationship. It creates the necessary intimacy for the internal “oasis” in contrast with the chaotic urban context of close neighboring buildings, while simultaneously enhancing the background presence of the landscape of Rio de Janeiro and the sky.

A part of this interior space is covered by a light glass roof, delimiting a solarium pavilion undercovered by a wooden grille, enabling the inhabitants to enjoy daylight while being protected from direct sun and rain. The double columns made of mirror-polished stainless steel tubes support the roof, leaving the structural axis free for the passage of a system of frameless sliding glass panels that enclose the space.

House in Leblon by Agencia TPBA. Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas.

The threshold moment of access occurs through an opening in the green perimeter, connecting to an existing room equipped with a small kitchen, a toilet, and an atelier. Additionally, an open area composed of wooden and grass surfaces completes the garden together with an outdoor shower. In the middle of this space, a mirrored cylinder conceals the presence of a large volume of technical ventilation, while at the same time providing space for a maintenance cabinet.

Conceived as an indeterminate interior, this house has no fixed functions or activities. Perhaps this is not a house, but rather a refuge to enjoy free time—an alternative kind of luxury where the urban inhabitant can escape the city while being in the middle of it.