Estúdio Zargos Turns Inward with Casa Matriz in Brazil

Casa Matriz, a 550-square-meter residence designed by Estúdio Zargos for completion in 2026, rejects the predictable architectural responses of its densely built surroundings.

Zargos Rodrigues and Fred Rodrigues led the project as lead architects. Manuel Sá and Studio Tertulia photographed the house. The design team worked with manufacturers Baracho Pedras, Focco Esquadrias, Mekal, and Taj Revestimentos.

"Casa Matriz was born from a refusal to repeat the obvious," the architects state in their project description. In a context of closely built houses and repetitive solutions, the architects answered with a dual strategy: introspection and openness.

The house closes itself off at the sides to preserve privacy. At the same time, it directs the gaze toward the landscape in the background. This opposition defines the project's core spatial logic — a continuous path that links the interior, water, nature, and the horizon.

The architects describe the house as a sequence rather than an object. Movement through Casa Matriz becomes the organizing principle, threading domestic space together with the pool, the vegetation, and the distant view.

Outside, the boundaries between building and landscape dissolve. The pool's water reflects the vegetation behind it, and the architects state that architecture and landscape become "a single continuum." The reflection doubles the greenery visually, extending the garden into the property's edge without a hard line between the two.

The manufacturers involved point to the project's material commitments. Baracho Pedras supplies stone, Focco Esquadrias provides the framed openings and glazing systems, Mekal contributes metalwork, and Taj Revestimentos delivers the finishes. These partnerships support the design's central moves: solid, privacy-protecting side walls paired with generous transparency toward the horizon.

The 2026 completion date places Casa Matriz among the studio's current work, and the project signals a direction for Estúdio Zargos: houses that treat density not as a constraint to decorate over, but as a condition to answer with clear sectional and planal strategy — sealed flanks, open front, and water as the hinge between built and natural worlds.