Tropical Architecture: Getting to Know Jacobsen Architecture's Work

Written by Camilla Ghisleni | Translated by Diogo Simões
Published on January 06, 2022

Intense integration between the built environment and its natural context: this is the premise that surrounds the projects of Jacobsen Arquitetura, from Rio de Janeiro. Founded 45 years ago, the office emerged from the union between architects Paulo Jacobsen and Cláudio Bernardes, who worked together until Bernardes' death in 2001. After that, Paulo joined forces with Thiago, Cláudio's son, starting a new office. The partnership with Thiago Bernardes fell apart in 2012, giving rise to the formation of Jacobsen Arquitetura, whose partners are Paulo and Bernardo Jacobsen (Paulo’s son) and Edgar Murata.

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Following the team's own definition, Rio de Janeiro’s exuberant landscape was fundamental for the development of the concept of tropical architecture, practiced by the office in it’s search for a contemporary aesthetic language based on the intense dialogue established with architecture with colonial and indigenous roots, under influence of modernism. These issues are portrayed in the works through the concepts of lightness and transparency in a continuous effort for the project to blend in with the surroundings as an “insertion construction”. The delicate interpretation of the context, allied to the use of natural materials, is also committed to the desires and intentions of the clients, since, as Paulo Jacobsen cites, architecture needs to be closely related to the personality and lifestyle of those who will inhabit it.

In almost five decades of dedication, Paulo Jacobsen and his team have developed architecture and interior projects on a global scale, with works in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania, facing different contexts and programs such as residences, hotels, buildings and museums. Today, the office's production is carried out from three locations: the creation studio based in Rio de Janeiro, the service and production matrix in São Paulo and the service and management of international projects in Lisbon.

Check out ten selected works from the office: