A Rope Screen Creates a Trellis for Brazilian Home

In an unusual design element in this house in São Paulo, Brazil, thick twine ropes simply hanging along the length of a beam allow gravity to create a dappled shade at certain times of the day.

The clients for the Casa d’Água House wanted to be surrounded by references to the family’s history and their emotional investment in the world of nature, through their farm.

So Isay Weinfeld, the São Paulo-based design studio, suggested that they reuse some familiar old elements, like the ropes, taken from the family business, farming.

Stones from farm fences were also brought in to cover the external walls, creating a familiar sight, and old wood pieces to lay the bedroom flooring.

The idea was that their new house should be welcoming and comfortingly familiar, rather than have that ‘new’ look.

Viewed from the bedrooms on the second floor, the strip of (dry) golden hemp ropes makes a texture contrast to the contrasting (wet) green strip of water that runs the length of the house, forming a lane for swimming laps.

To shield against the hot Brazilian sun, external shades, the most energy efficient solution, are employed to keep out the heat during siesta time.

As if to reverse the design element of the hanging ropes, by repeating it in reverse, a row of thick golden bamboo of slightly different heights makes a fence in bold contrast to the white stucco.