Pascali Semerdjian Arquitetos Removes a Spiral Stair to Open a Leblon Apartment Toward the Beach

Most apartment renovations change surfaces. The Leblon Apartment by Pascali Semerdjian Arquitetos changes circulation, and that is why it works. The 300 m² home in Rio de Janeiro was built around a family and is now reorganised for a single new owner. Its old layout had a spiral staircase planted in the middle of the plan, and every room negotiated with it. The architects demolished it and placed a new stone stair in a corner. Once that stair moved, the rest of the plan could open up.

What interests us is that the move goes beyond logistics. The new stair is paired with an indoor garden, designed with landscape designer Rodrigo Oliveira, that rises with it and ends in a curved planter at the upper landing. That planting carries the eye from the living floor to the rooftop, where the pool, sauna, outdoor shower, barbecue area, gardens and an office face Leblon Beach. Here the stair is the main architectural element of the project, and the interiors follow from it.

Demolishing the Spiral, Freeing the Plan

A central spiral stair is a compact solution that costs a lot of space. It splits the floor into leftover zones and blocks sightlines in every direction. By pushing the vertical connection to the edge, the architects return the centre of the apartment to use. You can see the payoff in the open living space, where the stair reads as a sculptural object against the wall instead of an obstacle in the room.

The stair itself is built from heavy limestone blocks that appear to float as they climb. Beside it, a wall of oak cabinet doors and a curved white soffit soften the mass. The stone gives the stair weight and permanence, and the surrounding timber and plaster keep it from feeling monumental in a domestic setting.

A Garden That Climbs With the Stair

The indoor garden is the project's most persuasive idea. Palms rise beside the descending stone treads, lit from a high window, so going upstairs feels closer to walking outside. At the top, a curved plaster wall frames a planted terrace, and the sea appears beyond it. The planting works as a vertical thread that tells you the rooftop exists before you reach it.

Some writers have linked this landscape-led approach to Rio's residential tradition and to Roberto Burle Marx. We find the comparison fair as a reading, not as a claim of lineage. What matters more is that the greenery here is structural to the experience of the home, not decoration added once the rooms were finished.

Living Rooms Pointed at the Ocean

With the centre of the plan cleared, the social areas can expand and be arranged around the view. The furniture stays low: a cream sofa, a woven leather lounge chair, a green bouclé seat. Nothing rises high enough to compete with the horizon. Sheer curtains filter the strong coastal light into an even glow, which suits Rio better than heavy blinds.

The material palette of jute, leather, timber and pale upholstery is restrained, and in some places it borders on the generic aesthetic of high-end coastal interiors. It works here because the architecture has done the hard spatial work, so the furnishings do not have to carry the project.

Two Ways to Eat

The apartment offers two dining settings with distinct characters. A round stone-top table with caned chairs sits inside, close to the curtains, as an intimate spot for small meals. A long timber table on a lattice base, under woven pendants, opens toward palms and the beach and is clearly meant for hosting. Giving each mode of eating its own place is a sensible choice for a home that has moved from family life to a more social single-owner routine.

The Master Suite Folds Into the Living Room

The brief asked for the master suite to join the social areas, which is an unusual priority. Bifold timber doors make this possible. When they are open, the bedroom becomes part of the living room, and the ocean view runs through both. When they are closed, the suite returns to privacy. It is a simple mechanism, and it fits an owner who does not need the strict separation a family home requires.

Inside, a low platform bed sits against an oak wall, and a freestanding tub stands behind glass near the window. Placing the bath in view of the bedroom extends the same openness found in the rest of the plan.

Bathrooms Cut From Stone

The bathrooms bring the stone of the stair down to a smaller scale. One vanity is a rough-cut green stone block, left deliberately raw against a timber slat wall. Another pairs a stone basin with a floating timber drawer and a window onto broadleaf plants. Each room connects back to the planting theme, even in its most private spaces.

A Rooftop Built for Leisure

The upper level is where the project shows its ambition. A built-in bench with orange cushions, log stools and loungers on grass all face the sea and the distant islands. A covered walkway lined with a timber lattice screen leads toward the rear office, so work and leisure share one floor without either intruding on the other.

The open-air shower, set between tiled walls with dense foliage and dappled sun, is the most purely Carioca space in the apartment. It acknowledges that in this climate the line between bathroom and garden can disappear entirely.

Sauna and Bar

The smaller amenities share the same material discipline. The sauna is lined in timber, with stepped benches, and sits behind a glossy white tile wall. A wood bar console with two-tone panels is lit by a cone wall lamp. These are standard features in luxury apartments, but they are detailed with the same oak and craft language as the main rooms, so they feel like part of the home and not add-ons.

Why This Project Matters

The Leblon Apartment shows that one well-chosen demolition can do more than any amount of new finishes. Removing the spiral stair is a modest act in construction terms, but it changes how the whole plan works. It frees the social areas, allows the suite to merge with the living room, and opens a vertical route to the roof. Anyone renovating an older apartment should treat circulation as a design opportunity, not a fixed constraint.

The project also makes a case for landscape as part of the interior. Pascali Semerdjian Arquitetos and Rodrigo Oliveira use planting to link the floors, so the rooftop is anticipated from below rather than discovered at the end. In a dense neighbourhood like Leblon, where outdoor space is scarce and valuable, that link between the inside of the apartment and the garden on its roof is the project's most transferable idea.

Leblon Apartment by Pascali Semerdjian Arquitetos, landscape design by Rodrigo Oliveira. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 300 m². Completed 2023. Photography by Fran Parente.

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