Balaio Arquitetura Lets Raw Concrete and Walnut Share a 227 m² São Paulo Apartment

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Q: What is "Balaio Arquitetura Lets Raw Concrete and Walnut Share a 227 m² São Paulo Apartment" about?

This article covers topics related to Housing, Architecture, Modern Architecture, Contemporary Architecture, Architecture Magazine, Architecture Project, Brazilian Architecture. In São Paulo, a 227 m² apartment keeps its board-marked concrete bones and layers them with walnut, green stone, ribbed glass and filtered daylight.

In São Paulo, a 227 m² apartment keeps its board-marked concrete bones and layers them with walnut, green stone, ribbed glass and filtered daylight.

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UNI Editorial published Blog under Housing, Architecture on Oct 11, 2026

Every apartment renovation begins with a negotiation between what can change and what cannot. Location, ceiling height, the depth of a room and the way light enters are fixed the day you sign. Partitions, finishes and furniture are open to revision. In the Santo Antonio Apartment, a 227 m² interior in São Paulo completed in 2026, Balaio Arquitetura, led by Gabriela Russo and Gabriel Luqui, builds the whole project around that negotiation. The fixed parts are left visible, and the changeable parts are designed with real care.

What interests us is how little the studio hides. Board-marked concrete columns, exposed beams and raw wall surfaces stay in view. Around them sits a carefully chosen set of materials: walnut joinery, green veined stone, ribbed glass, terrazzo and soft curtains. The result avoids the common trap of the polished São Paulo apartment where the building is plastered out of sight. The structure here is treated as part of the furniture, and the furniture is built to the standard of architecture.

A Curved Façade Softened by Fabric

Sofa, round dining table and wooden chairs in front of floor-to-ceiling sheer curtains diffusing bright daylight, with a tall potted fig

Low taupe sofa and arched floor lamp in front of floor-to-ceiling sheer curtains, with a glass side table in soft daylight

Round dining table with wooden chairs before a curved wall of sheer curtains, beside a rough board-marked concrete column

Open living and dining space with a cream sofa, exposed concrete beam and a blurred figure crossing near the built-in grill

Green veined stone block planter holding a large-leaved plant beside a sheer linen curtain and timber floor

The floor plan shows the living spaces wrapping a curved corner of the building, and the studio responds with floor-to-ceiling sheer curtains that follow that curve. Daylight arrives diffused rather than harsh. The curve, which could easily have read as an awkward leftover, becomes the room's defining quality.

Against that soft backdrop, the rough board-marked column beside the round dining table becomes the most honest object in the room. A low taupe sofa, an arched floor lamp and a stone block planter keep the furniture low and quiet, so the column, the light and the fabric carry the space.

The Walnut Wall as Infrastructure

Walnut shelving wall beside a green marble ledge with banana plants, a green leather armchair and a drum pendant over the dining table

Close view of walnut cabinet doors and open shelves beside a concrete wall, banana plants and a marble planter ledge

Woman reaching up to open a high cabinet door in the full-height timber shelving wall, bare feet on the wood floor

Upholstered timber dining chairs along a wooden table, with a drum pendant lamp and a shelving wall behind

Timber pivot door beside a ribbed glass panel, with a walnut shelving wall and track lights over a dark wood floor

The full-height walnut shelving wall works as both storage and spatial definition. It holds books and ceramics in open bays, hides clutter behind cabinet doors that reach the ceiling, and anchors the dining area under a drum pendant. Next to it, a green marble ledge holds banana plants, which brings a planted edge indoors without turning the apartment into a greenhouse.

Look at the image of a resident reaching for a high cabinet door. It shows a wall meant to be used daily, not admired from a distance. A timber pivot door sits flush in the same composition, so circulation and storage read as a single piece of joinery.

Ribbed Glass and Borrowed Light

Green marble kitchen island and herringbone walnut table with a blurred figure passing behind ribbed glass partition panels

Ribbed glass panels framed in walnut beside a steel range hood, marble counter and terrazzo floor in soft daylight

Close-up of the ribbed glass panel in a timber frame beside open shelves holding books and ceramics, with a green stone counter edge

Wood-framed sliding partition with ribbed translucent glass and a brass ring pull beside a timber floor and dining chairs

The ribbed glass partitions are the project's smartest device. Framed in walnut, they separate kitchen from dining without blocking daylight, and they blur movement behind them into soft silhouettes. You sense that someone is cooking, but you don't see the counter mess.

The sliding version, with its brass ring pull, shows the attention given to hardware. These panels let the plan change through the day: open for a dinner party, closed when the kitchen needs to recede.

A Kitchen Built Between Concrete and Stone

Dining table and chairs facing a green stone kitchen island, with exposed concrete ceiling beams and a timber glazed partition

Kitchen corner with white cabinets framed by raw concrete, a marble splashback and a timber island with green stone top

Compact kitchen run with white cabinets, round cut-out pulls, a gas hob and a grey marble backsplash behind a coiled tap

Kitchen with green stone island and cooktop, white cabinetry, steel hood and raw concrete wall in soft daylight

The kitchen sets a green veined stone island against white cabinetry framed by raw concrete, with a steel hood overhead. The palette holds together because each material keeps a clear role. Concrete is the frame, stone is the work surface, timber is what you touch, and white is the neutral filler.

The compact service run, with round cut-out pulls and a grey marble backsplash, proves the studio is as careful in the utilitarian corners as in the showpiece island. Exposed ceiling beams run over the whole kitchen and dining zone, so the structural grid stays readable from end to end.

A Bedroom Tuned to Warmer Colors

Bedroom corner with a carved wooden chair, long walnut desk and round mirror beside blush pink curtains in diffused light

Bed with a dark green upholstered headboard curving along the wall, lit by a brass pendant lamp beside a pink curtain

Round mirror reflecting the bed, green headboard and brass pendant lamp, with the back of a carved chair in the foreground

The private rooms shift register. Blush pink curtains filter the light, a dark green upholstered headboard curves along the wall, and a brass pendant hangs where a bedside lamp would usually sit. A long walnut desk and a carved wooden chair give the room a working edge, so it isn't treated as a purely decorative suite.

The round mirror deserves a mention. It reflects the headboard and pendant back into the room, doubling the warm palette and making a modest space feel layered.

Bathrooms and Dressing Spaces in Saturated Color

Bathroom with two white oval basins on a marble counter against a board-marked concrete wall and a mirrored cabinet

Double vanity with round white basins, a marble top and walnut drawers against a board-marked concrete wall

Four red marble shelves holding bottles and a soap dish on a rust-colored shower wall beside small beige tiles

Close-up of the curved timber vanity base meeting a pink terrazzo floor with a thin brass inlay line

Bathroom wall of small beige tiles with a chrome towel rail, a timber pivot door and frosted glass shower panel

Narrow dressing corridor with white wardrobes, walnut wall panels, a flush door and linear ceiling lights above a parquet floor

The bathrooms bring back the board-marked concrete, now behind double vanities with marble tops and walnut drawers. Then the color turns up: red marble shelves on a rust-colored shower wall, small beige tiles, and a pink terrazzo floor with a thin brass inlay where it meets a curved timber vanity base. That junction is the kind of detail most clients will never notice, and it's exactly why the project holds up.

The narrow dressing corridor, lined with white wardrobes and walnut panels under linear lights, links bedroom and bath efficiently. It turns a leftover passage into usable storage without making it feel cramped.

Plans and Drawings

Furnished floor plan drawing of an apartment with bedrooms, bathrooms, central core, dining table, living area and kitchen along the curved corner

Unfurnished floor plan drawing showing thick structural walls, room partitions, door swings and the central elevator core of an apartment

Reading the two plans side by side explains the whole design. The unfurnished drawing shows thick structural walls and a central elevator core, the fixed parts of the negotiation. The furnished plan shows how the studio organizes bedrooms and bathrooms around that core while pushing the living, dining and kitchen out to the curved corner, where light and views are best.

Why This Project Matters

Interior renovations in dense cities often erase the building in favor of a seamless finish. The Santo Antonio Apartment argues the opposite. It accepts the structure as a given and designs a set of precise, changeable layers around it: joinery, glass partitions, curtains and stone. That is a more honest way to treat existing housing stock, and frequently a more economical one.

For designers working within fixed shells, the lesson is about focus. Balaio Arquitetura doesn't fight the concrete or the curve. It puts its effort into the elements people touch every day, a cabinet door, a sliding panel, a brass inlay, and it lets daylight and structure do the rest.

Santo Antonio Apartment by Balaio Arquitetura (lead architects Gabriela Russo and Gabriel Luqui), São Paulo, Brazil. Area: 227 m². Completed: 2026. Photography by Leila Viegas.

About the Studio

Balaio Arquitetura

Official website of Balaio Arquitetura, one of the studios behind this project.

balaioarquitetura.com.br

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