Jacobsen Arquitetura Breaks AMS House Into Three Forest-Backed Volumes

Jacobsen Arquitetura has completed the 2,043-square-meter AMS House in Porto Feliz, Brazil, splitting the residence into three blocks connected by covered walkways. The project dates from 2024 and was published by ArchDaily on October 2, 2026, curated by Susanna Moreira.

The São Paulo-based firm placed the house at the highest point of a sloping lot, where the native forest serves as both backdrop and design reference. According to the architects, the social volume occupies the central position within the three-part ensemble.

"The strategy of volumetric fragmentation not only responds to the uneven terrain but also reinforces the intention of occupying the land," the architects stated in their project description.

Who built it?

The project drew on a large team and a chain of specialist consultants:

• Architecture team: Paulo Jacobsen, Bernardo Jacobsen, Edgar Murata, Marcelo Vessoni, Marcela Siniauskas, Pedro Henrique Ramos, Pedro Junqueira, Thauan Miquelin, Marina Camison, Gleice Sangregorio, Leticia Hirata, Andrea Mendonça
• Landscape: Rodrigo Oliveira
• Lighting: Lightworks
• Concrete structure: Leão e Associados
• Timber structure: Ita Engenharia
• Rammed earth: Taipal

The inclusion of a dedicated rammed earth consultant, Taipal, signals the firm's use of traditional wall techniques alongside engineered concrete and timber structures. Interior photography by Fran Parente shows wood dominating the living spaces, decks, bedrooms and kitchen, with exposed timber beams recurring throughout.

Why fragment the program?

The three-block plan lets each volume sit independently on the uneven terrain rather than forcing a single large footprint onto the slope. Covered walkways stitch the social core to the remaining volumes, keeping the forest visible between the parts.

This approach follows a consistent line in Brazilian residential work: breaking large programs into pavilion-like pieces to reduce the perceived scale of a house and preserve existing vegetation. At more than 2,000 square meters, AMS House tests that strategy at a size closer to a small institutional building than a typical family home.

For Jacobsen Arquitetura — an office led by Paulo Jacobsen with a long record of houses in Brazil's interior — the project shows the practice continuing to pair heavy structural engineering with low-tech earth construction. ArchDaily's Portuguese-language version of the feature, published alongside the English edition, extends the project's documentation for a Brazilian readership.