Penthouse Jardins
Duplex penthouse with curated noble materials and panoramic view over São Paulo
The Penthouse Jardins arrived with a singular brief: the client couple, collectors of contemporary Brazilian art, needed a space that functioned simultaneously as an ultra-high-end home and a private art gallery. The design response was a deliberately restrained palette — white, grey and black — that would never compete with the artworks, but frame them with industrial elegance.
Material Curation
Italian Calacatta Oro marble was the common thread running through the entire project. It appears on the living room floor in 160×320cm slabs with 1mm joints, on the Italian kitchen countertops as a solid 4cm-thick block, and on the master suite feature wall as continuous floor-to-ceiling panels rising 3.2 meters.
In contrast to the marble’s coolness, FSC-certified African wengué wood sheathes the dining room ceiling in 8cm strips with millimeter spacing, creating an upper plane that acoustically warms the space and defines the dining zone without the use of walls or partitions.
The Integrated Gallery
The hallway leading to the bedrooms was transformed into a 14-meter gallery with technical LED lighting recessed in surface-mounted track. The lighting system was engineered by a museography specialist, ensuring total absence of reflections on the artworks and precise color temperature for each type of piece in the collection.
The Rooftop
The 120m² upper terrace received 45mm cumaru hardwood decking over an elevated steel structure, creating an air gap between the floor and the waterproofed slab — ensuring thermal comfort while preserving the integrity of the original waterproofing. The Corten steel barbecue is the only warm-colored element in the entire project, an intentional counterpoint to the chromatic coolness of the interior.
Lighting and Climate
All artificial lighting was designed in partnership with an architectural lighting specialist. The system is 100% high-CRI LED (≥90), with variable color temperature per zone through DMX controllers integrated into the Crestron home automation system. Climate control is centralized with ceiling supply ducts in extruded aluminum linear grilles — invisible within the ceiling plane composition.