Attico Cottage | Matteo Arnone Studio | San Miguel do Gostoso, Brazil

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Modern architectural house with a unique round white structure surrounded by desert vegetation and palms, with a tall brick chimney structure at sunset

Sculptural Wind House on the Northeastern Coast of Brazil

On a vibrant shore San Miguel do Gostoso, the Attico Cottage by Matteo Arnone Studio gracefully rises above the dunes — an architectural dialogue between wind, sand and sea.

Here wind and clouds are not just natural forces, but structural partners shaping the form of the house, its materials and spirit. Rising only slightly above the undulating terrain, the Attico Cottage offers panoramic ocean views while maintaining a strong connection to its place. It is both a landmark and a sanctuary, an object of quiet geometry immersed in motion and air.

Concept and Ecological Response

The design by Matteo Arnone begins with the most powerful element of the site — wind. San Miguel do Gostoso, known for its year-round breezes, required architecture capable of breathing, moving and cooling naturally.

Instead of opposing these conditions, the Attico Cottage turns them into driving forces for design. The first floor functions as a wind machine — its terraces, walls and voids are arranged to direct and disperse air currents throughout the building. From the eastern facade, breezes enter through geometric courtyards, reaching bedrooms and spreading across the plan.

The tower with its double-layer brick facade system acts as a passive ventilation system, where air rises between two structural layers constantly refreshing the building's envelope. Thus, climate becomes architecture, and architecture becomes climate.

Spatial Composition and Vertical Experience

The house is divided into three levels, each expressing a different relationship to nature and intimacy:

First floor: Four symmetrically placed bedrooms surround the central kitchen pavilion, which serves as both the communal heart and climate regulator. Framed by four terraces, the kitchen pavilion controls lighting, airflow and views across the entire floor.
Second floor: The circular opening above the kitchen establishes visual and spatial connection with the upper residential and office area. This link allows light and air to flow freely between levels, enhancing openness and unity of the home.
Third floor: A small, contemplative space, becoming the pinnacle of the structure — a private sanctuary offering panoramic views over the ocean and the northeastern region. It embodies the conceptual climax of the project: a place of solitude, suspended between earth and atmosphere.

Materials and Form

The material palette of the Attico Cottage reflects tactile honesty and climatic intelligence:

Brick and concrete provide thermal mass, regulating internal temperature and responding to the sun at the coast.
Natural air voids replace mechanical cooling, creating comfort through movement rather than technology.
Earthy exteriors reflect the color of dunes, while the elevated structure lightly touches the ground, ensuring minimal environmental impact.

Arnone's architecture balances mass and void, solidity and porosity, creating air just as it creates form. The result is architecture that seems to be built by wind itself — quiet yet alive, rational yet poetic.

Light, Wind and Life

Every element of the Attico Cottage is tuned to air and light movement. The east-west orientation channels prevailing breezes through terraces, courtyards and voids, while subtle variations in wall geometry refract and soften air currents. As the day progresses, the house works like a living organism — breathing, glowing and adapting to its environment.

From dawn's diffused light to golden sunset reflections, the house presents a constantly changing choreography of shadows, wind and warmth.

The Attico Cottage by Matteo Arnone Studio is a meditation on lightness and life in motion. It redefines tropical modernism not as a stylistic exercise, but as a response to the most vital natural forces — wind, sun and sea.

Suspended between earth and sky, the house captures the spirit of its place with elegant modesty. It stands as a monument to climate-sensitive design, where air becomes architecture, and architecture becomes an atmospheric tool.