The 180-sqm renovation incorporates a former bedroom into the social area to create a bar and conversation space, while preserving the original wood flooring and bringing together Brazilian design, vintage pieces, art, and a palette of greens and pinks
Located in Jardins, São Paulo, PG 163 was renovated by Alexandre Dal Fabbro as a second home for a client who lives in Brasília and uses the apartment during stays in the city, whether for work or with her family. Spanning 180 sqm, the project grew out of her desire for interiors with a strong personality, combining color, texture, and bolder forms. The result embraces a maximalist sensibility, carefully balanced through material choices, proportions, and visual composition.
The renovation’s main intervention was the incorporation of the third bedroom into the living area. In its place, the architects created a bar connected to the social spaces, alongside an intimate conversation area, one of the client’s main requests. This transformation expanded the communal areas and established a sequence of living, dining, and bar spaces.
A new configuration for the social areas
Removing the wall of the former bedroom revealed existing concrete columns and beams. Rather than concealing them, the project incorporated the structure into the interiors, leaving the concrete exposed as a counterpoint to the wood, textiles, and stone used throughout the apartment. The original wood parquet flooring was also restored and became a reference for the tones selected for the new custom joinery.
A large timber bookcase runs along the main wall of the living area, visually connecting the dining and sitting spaces. Its composition alternates solid and open sections to accommodate books, objects, the television, and a collection of artworks acquired by the owner over time. The joinery therefore performs multiple functions while preserving a continuous reading of the space.
Curved forms appear throughout the living room, from the sofa and rug to different furniture pieces. The same geometry reappears in the round dining table, the bar, the marble-clad arched niches, and the timber portal framing the entrance door.
Color, texture and pattern
The material palette combines wood, concrete, marble, mirrors, and textiles, articulated through recurring shades of green, pink, and cream. The aim was to create an expressive interior in which the variety of elements remained visually balanced rather than overwhelming.
In the entrance hall, kitchen, and balcony, white and green marble flooring laid in a checkerboard pattern establishes a shared identity between the spaces. The composition also relates to the green joinery and the timber used for panels, shelving, and the restored parquet flooring.
The bar as a gathering point
A central element of the brief, the bar occupies the space formerly used as the third bedroom. Rounded corners, marble shelves, and a smoked-mirror backdrop define its design while allowing it to integrate directly with the living area.
Around the bar, three May armchairs by Jader Almeida, upholstered in pink fabric, form an intimate conversation area alongside Oscar Niemeyer’s Marquesa bench and Mini Pick tables by Claudia Moreira Salles. In the dining area, vintage Senior chairs and marble-clad arched niches reinforce both the presence of collectible design and the curved vocabulary that runs throughout the project.
The balcony as an extension of the living room
The connection between the living room and balcony was strengthened by opening the existing folding windows, allowing the two areas to become fully integrated. A continuous bench was designed for the balcony, with planters at either end that visually connect the apartment’s greenery with the treetops outside the building.
The checkerboard flooring used in the kitchen and entrance hall continues onto the balcony, while the bench and planters are clad in concrete slats. This repetition of materials allows the balcony to read as an extension of the social areas while establishing a more direct relationship with the surrounding landscape.
Furniture, art and personal elements
The furniture selection brings together contemporary pieces, vintage finds, and items from the client’s own collection. Among the designs featured in the apartment are the Pétala coffee table and Marquesa bench, available through Etel, Jader Almeida’s May armchairs, Cassina’s Lady Chair, and Mini Pick tables by Claudia Moreira Salles. Vintage furniture and personal objects complete the interiors.
Art also plays an important role in the composition. Alongside works collected by the owner over the years, the apartment includes a commissioned piece by Isabela Despujols. In the entrance hall, a gold ear-shaped sculpture shares the space with the timber portal and the entrance door’s circular marble handle.
Continuity in the private areas
In the primary bedroom, pink, green, timber, and smoked mirror echo the palette established in the social areas. A mirrored panel incorporates the television, while the headboard panel and bedside table were custom-designed by the studio.
The recurring use of colors, materials, and forms creates continuity between the spaces and reinforces the apartment’s overall identity.
