Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2025
Single Wall Residence
by Suna Arquitetura - Pedro Sunye
- A' Design Award 2025 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Suna Arquitetura
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 18,872
- Verification code 28705F4219 · Verify this award
About Single Wall Residence
Single Wall is a residence located in Angra dos Reis, Brazil. The house is organized by one continuous pressed bamboo wall, 80 meters long. The wall separates leisure and service areas, conceals technical spaces, and supports the suspended bedroom volume. Exposed concrete, pressed bamboo, and Brazilian marble are the main materials. Post tensioned concrete allows a free span of 12.5 meters and a cantilever of 6.5 meters. Glass panels retract fully, joining interior and exterior. Cross ventilation, natural light, and shading provide comfort without artificial systems.
Emerging from traditions of residential modernism that celebrate the dialogue between built form and natural setting, Pedro Sunyé's Single Wall Residence exemplifies a considered approach to dwelling that positions architecture as a mediating element between human habitation and landscape. The design appears to engage with lineages of tropical modernism, wherein deep overhangs, transparent enclosures, and elevated living volumes respond to climatic conditions while establishing visual porosity between interior and exterior realms. The technical accomplishment evident in the cantilevered concrete floor plates demonstrates sophisticated structural engineering, the horizontal datums extending beyond their supports to create shaded thresholds that blur the boundary between inside and outside while providing environmental protection. The material palette reveals thoughtful consideration of aging and weathering, with corten steel panels developing their characteristic oxidized patina in contrast to the enduring neutrality of exposed concrete, suggesting an architecture that embraces temporal transformation rather than resisting it. Compositionally, the work achieves remarkable balance between the weight of its material presence and the lightness implied by its elevated posture, the slender columns establishing a measured rhythm that invites passage while the continuous glazing offers transparency that connects inhabitants to the surrounding terrain. The integration of the pool as both functional amenity and compositional element demonstrates sophisticated site planning, its geometric clarity echoing the orthogonal discipline of the built form while its reflective surface introduces qualities of light and movement into the overall composition. One might observe how the residence seems to hover above its site, touching the earth lightly while commanding views across the valley, an approach that suggests respect for the landscape even as it asserts architectural presence within it. What does it mean to dwell within a structure that so deliberately frames and celebrates its natural context?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project is structured by a single architectural gesture: an 80 meter long bamboo wall that organizes the program, separates leisure and service areas, supports the suspended bedroom volume, and conceals technical spaces. The architecture celebrates raw materiality, making exposed concrete, pressed bamboo, and Brazilian marble the protagonists of the space.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Total area: 960 square meters
Free span: 12.5 meters
Cantilever: 6.5 meters
Continuous bamboo wall: 80 meters
Structural system: Post tensioned concrete
Material composition: Exposed concrete, pressed bamboo, Brazilian marble. - Tags
- minimalist architecture, contemporary house, exposed concrete, bamboo wall, material honesty, seamless integration, landscape driven design, structural innovation, sustainability
- Production Technology
- The project combines advanced structural techniques with vernacular construction methods. The twelve point five meter span and six point five meter cantilever are achieved through post tensioning. Concrete is shaped using ribbed formwork and raw wood props. The bamboo wall, produced in China, serves both structural and aesthetic functions. High performance glazing systems allow full retraction of the glass panels.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenge was to preserve the conceptual essence throughout the construction process. Formal purity demanded extreme precision in every detail, from carpentry to material junctions. Visual continuity and conceptual integrity were only possible through rigorous control and conscious decisions. The result invites reflection: why do we still overcomplicate architecture?
- Project Duration
- The project was conceived between 2021 and 2022 in Curitiba, and built between 2022 and 2024. Located in Angra dos Reis, the residence integrates with the tropical landscape, using its natural conditions to define the architectural approach from the beginning of the design process.
- Operation Flow
- Circulation is defined by a single continuous wall that separates social access from service areas. The path naturally leads to the suspended bedrooms, with no visual barriers. Glass panels fully retract, blending interior and exterior. Cross ventilation, natural light, and strategic shading ensure environmental comfort without the need for artificial systems.
- Research
- This research explores the relationship between linearity, functional concealment, and spatial fluidity. The eighty meter wall organizes the program and expands the perception of space. Structural solutions such as post tensioning were combined with vernacular techniques like ribbed concrete and pressed bamboo. Material continuity and constructive efficiency reinforce interior and exterior integration.
- Inspiration
- Situated between the mountains and the sea, the architecture emerges as a harmonious response to the landscape. Nature invites full openness, while dense vegetation protects privacy. The program follows a hospitality-inspired logic, where the spatial experience is continuous and service areas remain hidden. The house was designed to offer a contemplative and sensory immersion, without visual or functional barriers.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Fabio Severo, Single Wall, 2024.
Image #2: Photographer Fabio Severo, Single Wall, 2024.
Image #3: Photographer Fabio Severo, Single Wall, 2024.
Image #4: Photographer Fabio Severo, Single Wall, 2024.
Image #5: Photographer Fabio Severo, Single Wall, 2024.
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Minimalist Architecture and Spatial Design
We create contemporary architecture that harmonizes with landscape through material honesty and structural innovation. Our approach transforms development potential into spaces that balance formal simplicity with sensory immersion. Winner of the prestigious A' Design Award.
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