Casa Jabuticaba by Fernanda Marques: A Family Home Built Around the Garden
A family residence becomes more interesting when its design anticipates how everyday life will change. That is the guiding idea behind Casa Jabuticaba, a home by Fernanda Marques in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, completed in 2022 after a design programme beginning in 2019. Conceived for a young couple with small children, the nearly 1,400-square-metre house creates different opportunities for togetherness without asking every family member to share the same room or routine.
The architecture gives outdoor space a role in the interior plan rather than treating the garden as scenery. Arrival begins among planted areas and continues towards rooms that open onto terraces and landscaped views. The project uses a steel structure, allowing slimmer horizontal slabs and a sense of lightness across its generous footprint.
A home with room to grow
The division between levels is simple but purposeful. Most social activity unfolds on the ground floor, with entertaining areas extending towards the terrace and garden. Upstairs, the private rooms retain their own relationship with nature. In the main suite, views are directed towards protected greenery; other bedrooms face the pool, producing distinct outlooks without losing the overall coherence of the home.
Children's spaces form part of this wider domestic landscape. A playroom connects with the main living zone, encouraging interaction while making supervision and movement easier. The programme also includes a gym and two home-theatre settings: one associated with the central living room, the other upstairs. Rather than functioning as a series of isolated amenities, these rooms offer complementary places for leisure, concentration and rest.
Landscape as an organizing element
The design's most compelling aspect is the way it makes the garden legible from multiple positions. It can be experienced along the entrance route, from the shared living areas and through carefully framed upper-floor views. Bringing nature into these successive moments makes the house feel connected to its site despite the scale of the building.
Casa Jabuticaba demonstrates that a large residence need not be organized as an accumulation of formal rooms. Fernanda Marques' scheme uses circulation, visible connections and a considered balance between shared and private spaces to create a home intended to remain useful as its occupants grow and their patterns of living evolve.
Project and image credits
Casa Jabuticaba — São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil. Architecture and interiors: Fernanda Marques Arquitetura. Project period: 2019–2022. Approximate project area: 1,400 m². Photography: Fernando Guerra. Official project source: https://fernandamarques.com.br/en/project/casa-jabuticaba/. All six photographs in this article are from the studio's official project gallery.
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