While the Hudson-Panos House was under construction, I was entrusted as the Job Captain for a small remodel project in San Rafael, the Braz-Pereira House. The clients, a young Brazilian couple, bought a typical 1950s California ranch house in the suburbs after the birth of their first child. The property has a great view from the backyard, and the house is in good condition. The clients wanted to modernize their new home without tearing down the existing building.

The design for this remodel was inspired by the unique passion and heritage of the clients.The clients sent us a montage and asked if we can make their house feel bigger with a glass wall on the back of the house. We said sure. So we designed a glass wall, but we also protected it with a deep overhang. The large and thick overhang, with a circular opening in its canopy, is supported by 2 steel columns with 4” diameter. It reminisces the free flowing modernism made famous by Brazilian architects like Oscar Niemeyer. Furthermore, it reminds me of Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de I’Esprit Nouveau.

Another notable feature of completed project is the diagonal rock “pathway” embedded in the tile floor, visually separating the living and dining room. The “pathway” follows an existing axis from the original plan, it runs from the interior space, through the glass wall, out onto the rear patio, and into the landscape. It creates a visual axis connecting the new and and the old, and inside and outside. This symbolic feature is finished in small stones and recalls the traditional Calçada pathways of the clients’ childhood in Ipanema Beach.

As the Job Captain, I developed and managed drawings, and most importantly, developed exterior details to anchor the new roof to the old house and figure out proper drainage.