Basement
Dedicated to leisure and well-being: a wine cellar with a glass ceiling looking up into the cantilevered pool — refractions of light and water over a fine wine — beside a game room with a bowling alley, a gym and the garage.
Project Presentation
The perfect fusion of contemporary architectural rigor, spatial sophistication, and a deep integration with nature — a fluid, elegant and contemplative living experience on the coast of Xangri-lá.
A — Design Brief & Site Considerations
Architecture as memory, nature and experience
Submitted in the Architecture Single Residence category of the International Property Awards 2026, Casa Sovrana Seasons A86 is an exclusive residence by Quattro di Milano, conceived under the leadership of Brazilian architect Luciano Albarello. Every volume, line and material reflects a commitment to design excellence and the authenticity of Brazilian architecture.
Everything begins with a tree.
Upon visiting the land for the first time, the architect came across a centennial fig tree with a vast and irregular canopy, intertwined with bromeliads, ferns and veils of moss, supported by a trunk of tabular roots — true ribs sculpted by time. For technical reasons the tree had to be transplanted; its presence, rather than merely preserved, became the departure point of the project.
The first trace of the house was born from the attempt to translate into architecture the gesture of a trunk supported in art and a canopy that branches out, overlaps, and projects moving shadow onto the ground. The fig tree ceased to be an element of memory to become the guiding thread of the entire design — present in the volumetry, in the texture of the materials, in the way light passes through its voids.
A.1.a — Necessities Program
Five central intentions
Seasonal versatility
Fully inhabitable throughout the year — spaces that open to the landscape in the intense summer and close for internal comfort in the humid, windy winters of the southern Brazilian coast.
Integration with nature
Guided by biophilia, the architecture is permeable to light and vegetation: the extended living room, the pool with a waterfall, direct access to the lake, and elements that evoke the centennial fig tree.
The rooftop as contemplation
An elevated sky garden under a floating pergola inspired by the fig tree's branches — the domestic stage for the Italian-style aperitivo, before sheets of water, a fire pit and the horizon.
Vertical expansion
A subterranean level gathering a climate-controlled wine cellar with a glass ceiling facing the pool above, a game room, a gym and a garage for six sports cars.
The calling to entertain
Five suites, an integrated office and a sequence of leisure spaces — an organism designed as much for intimate retreat as for social gathering.
A.1.b — Concept & Project Evolution
The tree, built
The fig tree is not quoted in the house — it is rebuilt in it. Three architectural gestures carry the tree forward: the trunks that once formed a woodland, the fissured bark of a century of growth, and the canopy that filtered light without ever closing it off.
Trunks
On the upper volume, a continuous run of vertical timber slats stands in for the woodland that surrounded the tree. Backlit at dusk, the brise-soleil filters the interiors and reads, from the street, as a grove holding up the slab.
Bark
At the entrance, coppered metal panels are carved with irregular vertical fissures drawn from the tree's tabular roots. The monogram is engraved into the same wall — the house signing itself in the material it was born from.
Canopy
Along the lake face, planted bands spill from the slab edges at the height of the former canopy — bringing shade, birds and a moving green edge back to the level where the branches once were.
B — Location
Xangri-lá, capital of condominiums
Casa Sovrana will be built within Seasons — the first international-standard development on the Rio Grande do Sul coast, recognized with five stars as the best condominium in the Americas 2023/24 by the International Property Awards.
Plot A86 holds two equally noble faces: an 18-metre front to the central avenue, and an 18-metre back oriented towards the lake — entrance and contemplation, in equal measure.
- 221
- Plots
- 300,000m²
- Site area
- 1,000m
- Private beach
- 5stars
- IPA rating 2023/24
C — Architecture & Use of Space
A journey in four levels
1,252.60 m² of private area · living room with a full 7.20 m span
Ground floor
The extended living room alternates double and triple heights around an imposing fireplace, opening frontally to the lake and laterally to the pool with its waterfall — dining, gourmet and veranda in a single spatial gesture.
Upper floor
A library-panel suspended over the living-room void leads to four lake-facing suites and the master suite — walk-in closet, individual bathrooms and a spa with soaking tub, overlooking a remnant of the Atlantic Forest.
Rooftop
The culmination: a 360° sky garden beneath an organically shaped pergola — ocean to the east, mountains to the west, lakes and wind turbines punctuating the coastal horizon.
D — Appearance & Finish
Luxury through the truth of materials
Stones that preserve geological time in their veins, Brazilian hardwoods of dense fibre, metals that age with nobility. It is a house that chose to endure — and demonstrates this in every finish.
Dekton Polar
An ultracompact, continuous, light-toned surface for the living room floor — amplifying natural light and dissolving the boundary between interior, veranda, pool and lake.
Taj Mahal & Esmeralda
Taj Mahal marble runs through countertops, fireplace and staircases, while emerald marble brings depth and retreat to the powder rooms and suite sinks — recalling the tones of the fig tree.
Cristallo
The residence's jewel — used in the entrance light fixtures and in sculptural pieces, its translucency lets light inhabit the stone.
Carbonized wood
The conducting material of the project — millwork, suite floors and pool deck. Its charred depth is symbolic: a domestic echo of the fig tree's fissured bark.
White concrete & copper
The façade combines white concrete with sculptural copper brise-soleil in vertical movements — permanence and monumentality against a rhythmic play of light and shadow.
E — Sustainability, Energy Conservation & Innovation
Comfort by design, not by machine
The greatest reduction in energy consumption does not come from a piece of equipment, but from a design strategy: orientation, thermal inertia, natural ventilation, shading and water make mechanical air conditioning complementary rather than structural.
Earth-to-air heat exchanger
Concrete ducts buried along the perimeter precondition the air against the stable mass of the earth — cooled in summer, warmed in winter — delivered at an average of 22 °C through grilles in floors and walls.
Ventilation by convection
The full-height living room works as a draft chamber: warm air rises and escapes through upper openings while fresh air is admitted below — the stack effect replaces active climate control for most of the year.
Water mirror & sky garden
Reflecting pools over the roof slabs reduce thermal load and promote evaporative cooling; the rooftop vegetation shades the slab and extends the Atlantic Forest into the skyline.
Solar control
Copper brise-soleil filter direct radiation while laminated low-emissivity glazing reflects infrared — reducing heat gain without compromising daylight or the view.
Water management
Advanced tertiary wastewater treatment and rainwater reuse supply irrigation, the pool and the water features.
Clean energy
The condominium's own photovoltaic plant secures collective solar energy — freeing the rooftop to be 100% dedicated to the sky garden.
F — Safety & Security
Protection in successive layers
A defence-in-depth model runs from the condominium perimeter to the residence itself, combining physical barriers, electronic monitoring, access control and automation — kept discreet so that no device compromises the spatial fluidity or the privacy of the residents.
Condominium scale
Infrared cameras with heat sensors and facial recognition, three independently controlled entrances, and specialized security monitoring the perimeter 24 hours a day.
Residence scale
An intelligent perimeter with sensors on every opening, electronic locks with remote activation, and real-time monitoring — active protection even in the residents' absence.
Fire prevention
Smoke and heat detectors, extinguishers and an alarm center — a security standard beyond the minimum required, without compromising the spatial experience.
Luciano Albarello
“To me, this house represents the continuity of what once existed here — a place of permanence, warmth, and connection with nature.”
Luciano Albarello
Urban Planner & Architect · Quattro di Milano
Quattro di Milano
Who we are
Quattro di Milano is a company specialized in high-end architecture and urban planning, headquartered in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Our history originates from a traditional family from Lombardy — the Italian region whose capital is Milan, globally renowned for its architecture, design and cultural influence.
Our principal product is the development of signature homes under the Casa Sovrana brand — a singular concept marked by exclusivity, elegance and a devotion to detail. More than designing residences, we seek to create spaces that express the identity and lifestyle of the people who inhabit them.
Each Casa Sovrana is born from active listening and a sensitive reading of its site. Architecture, interiors and landscaping are planned as one integrated gesture to deliver functionality, comfort and harmony — resulting in a singular residence, conceived to remain sovereign through time.
Inspired by Italian tradition and guided by a contemporary vision, Quattro di Milano unites aesthetic sensibility, technical precision and constructive excellence. From conception to finishes, our mission is to create authentic, timeless residences that bring the pleasure of living well.
Avenida Borges de Medeiros, 2277 · Suite 2103 · Praias de Belas · 90110-150 · Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil