LOC Country House: Contemporary Language for a Rural Home

In São Roque, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, Dado Castello Branco Arquitetura has designed LOC Country House, a 1,100 m2 residence that reimagines the rural archetype through a contemporary lens and industrial inspiration.

Sited on a sloping hillside overlooking a lake in the countryside, the house responds to the client’s request for a home deeply integrated into the landscape.

LOC Country House: Lightness and elevation

The residence’s profile evokes the archetypal barn, with its expansive gabled geometries, pitched roofs, and compact form anchoring it to the site. The building’s defining element, however, is its relationship with the terrain.

A stone plinth encircles the building. This “stone skirt,” as the architects call it, serves a technical function by protecting the building from soil moisture while also providing a sense of lightness and elevation, in keeping with the owners’ vision. Defined by stone- and wood-clad volumes, the two main levels rise above this base.

Adjacent to the main house, an independent pavilion houses wellness spaces, including a spa and gym with views of the pool and lake. This structure complements the complex while maintaining its own spatial autonomy.

Reinterpreting local tradition

The design is a clear departure from the Brazilian rural tradition. While vernacular references recall the colonial fazenda, with its plastered surfaces and clay tiles, the project also integrates a modern industrial aesthetic.

This contrast is primarily expressed through the material character that establishes the building’s formal identity. The stone and wood cladding contrast with the metal roofing. Finished in black automotive paint, the roof creates a sharp, contemporary line against the forest canopy.

This material palette ensures that the complex is closely integrated with its natural setting. Tactile surfaces, restrained tones, and a pronounced openness to the exterior carry the building’s character into the living spaces. Gilberto Elkis’s landscape design reinforces this connection, blending discreetly into the site and maintaining the lake as the horizon’s focal point.

LOC Country House achieves a distinct identity through a coherent system of form and material, in which the weight of stone, the warmth of wood, and the industrial precision of metal produce distinctive architecture in close conversation with its setting.

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