House RRD 03 by Paulo Henrique Paranhos: Housing in Harmony with the Cerrado

Context and Integration into the Landscape

Located in a premium residential area of Brasília, the RRD 03 house is part of a carefully planned architectural complex built on an extensive farm. The project was designed by architect Paulo Henrique Paranhos, who aimed for a deep connection with nature, where roads, walkways, platforms and gardens seamlessly blend into a vast landscape.

The urban plan avoids rigid separations between built and natural environments. Instead, all paved areas serve as social and recreational zones, providing comfort for children and elderly people without disrupting their rest with traffic.

Architectural Expression

The single-story house presents a permeable structure that allows nature to flow freely through and around it. Exposed concrete slabs and warm wooden panels form the architectural lexicon, resembling scattered leaves that blur the boundary between body and void. Rather than creating barriers, the house opens to the common green area of the farm and relies on a community security system for privacy and protection.

Visitors enter through a floating wooden panel door, which opens into an inner garden. From here, the path leads to public areas, private rooms and service sections, each arranged to ensure openness and fresh air circulation.

Spatial Organization

The house is organized in the form of parallel layers, defining separate zones:

• Left wing: garage and service rooms, open to side green spaces

• Right wing: private zones, including bedrooms and private gardens

• Central core: public and leisure areas, surrounded by large panoramic views

All private zones are surrounded by gardens designed for contemplation, forming cozy corners within the house.

The social center of the house is a spacious veranda, connected to the kitchen and living room. This space leads directly to the solarium and pool, while a white metal pergola provides shade and rhythm in the open leisure areas.

Simplicity of Structure and Details

Although the structure is simple, the house demonstrates careful architectural detailing. Ribbed mixed slabs and raised roofs provide spaciousness in public areas, while the pergola emphasizes the ordered interaction of columns, beams and slabs. Concrete and wood alternate with transparent surfaces, ensuring constant interaction between interior life and the preserved green cerrado landscape.

Life in Harmony with the Landscape

Each room—kitchen, bedrooms or public areas—offers views of the surrounding cerrado, underlining the design approach that does not rely on logic of built mass, but rather on a dialogue between the structure and landscape. Architecture prioritizes permeability, scale and intimacy, without losing privacy, making the house more like an extension of nature itself than a closed object.

The RRD 03 house, designed by architect Paulo Henrique Paranhos, demonstrates modern Brazilian residential design deeply rooted in context. Using minimal concrete and wood, permeable boundaries, and seamless integration of architecture with the landscape, the house transcends typical residential types, becoming a harmonious refuge in the cerrado.

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