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Far from the madding crowd of the third - largest city on the major planet - São Paulo - is the seaboard villa of the chic Brazilian designer Ana Maria Vieira Santos . Affording a bird’s - heart scene of an bright blue Atlantic intake , it is drape by the lush woodland preserves of the Mata Atlântica .
From the entrance path made of Moledo stone and chalk , and through 15 - foundation - tall doors , the sea beyond and gardens below are visible . Photo by : Jon Whittle .
Every Friday good afternoon , Santos cranks up the “ ambient shudder music ” in her sheeny black Toyota Hilux as her driver makes the 90 - second head trip from the engorged city streets to this extraordinary garden Shangri-la of her own design . Chill indeed on a hillside , Santos ’ four - narrative pour - concrete and limestone base architecturally cascade down toward the sea . Yin from yang , it is transcendent tropical seclusion - the antithesis of the almost unrivalled urban sprawl of São Paolo .
Known plainly as Ana to her friends , Santos has been in the concern of purpose for 35 years . In increase to her architecture and interior intention , she operates two home furnishing showrooms in São Paolo . Her current projects include a health spa in Qatar and a habitation in Rio de Janeiro state with gardens primitively designed by Roberto Burle Marx .
pore in limestone terraces , the pool appears to spill into the sea . Photo by : Jon Whittle .
LAYOUT : The entrance to the eight - bedroom , over 4,200 - square - foot Villa Santos is at the upper tier of the four - story theatre , built against a hillside perched over the sea . As you approach , there is a stunning I. F. Stone path with three - foot - hearty field glass panels , through which is revealed a subterranean tropic - plants garden which includes abridge - leaf and flask philodendrons , Vriesea imperialisbromeliads andAnthuriumcrystallinum . Ana Maria also expose her collection of orchid - an regalia that include cattleyas , Miltonia , butterfly orchid and vandas - about which she is passionate .
At the rear of the house , Santos designed an east - face up terrace to frame a small puddle , first just one foot deep and 12 feet hearty , broaden to full size of it and depth . The eternity - border consortium appears to join the ocean , as though the villa were itself floating .
Sheltered under the canopy of a forest preserve , Ana Maria Santos ’ outside dining room table and bench were both made using salvaged Grant Wood from her home state of Minas Gerais in Brazil . Photo by : Jon Whittle .
material : The Santos home is built of poured concrete , with limestone floors and terrace that stay cool underfoot in a very hot mood . For the forested dining terrace , Ana Maria salvaged spacious timber from Tiradentes , a colonial town established in 1702 in Minas Gerais nation . The precious and ancient boards were used for decking and to make the dining table and chairs . A procession of hand-crafted plant container , on concrete pedestals , are actually salvaged antiquealguidares , richly patinated vessels made of fire cadaver and originally used in the due north of Brazil to prepare and carry meals . A browned stone , Moledo , pave the garden paths .
STYLE : know for her potent grinning and in high spirits energy , Santos is a fashion plate and society figure in São Paolo . Her evenly voguish outside aliveness reflects her fashionable restraint , with a act of tongue - in - cheek invention bodily fluid thrown in . For example , the phantasmagorical electronegative spaces in the glass walkway are recall , in reverse , by the three similarly proportioned limestone step stones that seem improbably to take the air on water in the serene pool .
In magical eve lighting , an ornamental fountain , framed by agaves and also visible from the entrance of the theater tally a contact of minimalist ceremonial to Santos ’ limestone kitty bench and pedestrian bridge . Photo by : Jon Whittle .
PLANTS : For contemporary homes like her own , Santos prefer simple , locally adapted plants like bamboo palm , moso bamboo ( Phyllostachys pubescens ) andRenealmia brasiliensis . The entrance walk is border with a fringe ofDietes bicolor . Antique containers are filled with sprawl rose bay ( topically calledespirradeira ) . A pair of agaves frame an decorative natural spring , flanked by pot allamandas atop plinth . Near the spa , Santos ’ orchidaceous plant compendium is sheltered from the mood of Guarujá , the island where the house is located . Moss - coveredalguidaresfilled with oleander zone the capable - plan bench .
furnishing : With an editor in chief ’s precision , Ana Maria furnish her gardens with austere and sleek furniture of her own design , such as the trio of steel chaise longues , paint dim and upholstered with woven synthetic fibre . Many are production pieces that are also offer at her fund , Ana Maria Vieira Santos Casa in São Paolo . The outdoor dining furniture , made of wide salvaged display board , recalls the oeuvre of George Nakashima and could not be more at home than under the shelter of the surround timber preserve .
OVERHEAD : grant to co-worker , the refined Ana Maria is known to privately trip the light fantastic by her seaside pool . It is a joyful thing to imagine . By keeping it unsubdivided , celebrating the spare part , Santos has created and furnished a abode that is a felicitous bridge deck between the lush woods and the shimmer sea .
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