Ibiúna Residence

Rodrigo Ohtake comes from a distinguished line of artists and designers. His grandmother was the Japanese-Brazilian artist Tomie Ohtake and his father was the architect Ruy Ohtake.
Graduated as Architect and Urbanist at FAU/USP (University of São Paulo) in 2009, with a study period at Politecnico di Milano, Rodrigo Ohtake, collaborated with architects Mario Biselli, Alvaro Puntoni and french designer Patrick Jouin. He also worked from 2008 until 2017 with his father Ruy Ohtake.

Rodrigo’s latest project is a modular, ecological holiday home for his family (his wife Ana Carolina and  their three children Lia, Ivan and Tom) in Ibiuna, a rural town an hour and half  far from Sao Paulo. Rodrigo’s family uses it to get away from the city life, to relax after a busy week and for the children to be in close contact with nature.

Rodrigo designed the entire structure of the house with the valuable help of the Syshaus, a Brazilian construction company known for its prefabricated houses. The challenge was design a house that didn’t look like a prefabricated modular house, without deviating from the original modular design. So Rodrigo came up with a design that consisted of several prefabricated modules joined together, with spaces left in between to act as social areas, where the living room, dining room and kitchen are located. He wanted this modular project to be an example of something built by man, but in harmony with nature.

Rodrigo learnt from his father to enjoy challenges, to have a mutually stimulating relationship with suppliers and industry, and to encourage the evolution of architecture and construction systems. The main motivation that led him to embark on this project was the possibility of providing quality and affordable housing.

The house, with a surface area of 180 m², was built in just 30 days on one of the plateaus of the land.

To cover all these prefabricated modules, he used an industrial roof that can be cut in curves. For the façade, Rodrigo created some accessories to break the rectangular shape of the rooms, such as curved walls and curved eaves.

For the exterior walls, he chose a thermo-insulated industrial wall covered with an aluminium panel.

The curved blue exterior walls are made of perforated sheet steel. The main functions are to break up the rectangular format of the bedroom modules, give privacy to the rooms and make the house surprising.

Rodrigo’s studio always uses color in his projects. For him, color means joy. Orange was the color he chose to be the protagonist of the interior, to contrast with the super strong green of the nature that surrounds the house.

Waking up in the middle of nature is why the bedroom windows are curtainless. It is a unique feeling.
The ceiling is made of industrial steel beams.

The bathroom is not formal. In fact, it is very integrated with the bedroom.

The living room has a wooden floor.

For the pool, Rodrigo wanted a curved design that would be unusual.

Most of the furniture in the house was made by Rodrigo. Rodrigo’s wife, an art curator, selected all the artwork in the house.

Wrapped in a sky-blue steel skin and glass walls, the house disappears into the landscape, which is exactly what Rodrigo was looking for when he designed this project.