Casa Daia: modular architecture in dialogue with the Brazilian territory of Barra dos Remédios, in Ceará

In the municipality of Camocim, in the Brazilian state of Ceará, Barra dos Remédios remains a territory still untouched by the logics of intensive occupation. Here, the Coreaú River —in its final stretch known as Topuio— opens towards the ocean, shaping a landscape where fresh and salt water converge. Around it, vast expanses of white dunes, coastal vegetation and nearly deserted beaches define a setting where time seems to move at a different pace..

The experience of the place is structured around movement. Walking across dunes, traversing the territory by vehicle or accompanying local fishermen in shellfish gathering are part of a daily life that preserves its direct relationship with the environment. Barra dos Remédios is an inhabited landscape: a quiet, sparsely visited place where observation, climate and geography define ways of being.

Within this context —remote, fragile and deeply rooted in local culture— the studio UNA barbara e valentim develops Casa Daia, a set of four bungalows that proposes a precise way of intervening in delicate territories. More than a hotel, the project designs a light infrastructure for temporary stays, where architecture, landscape and community evolve through a logic of continuity.

The starting point is the coexistence of ecosystems —mangroves, dunes, riverbanks, caatinga vegetation and coastal forest— within a former 220-hectare estate. In this context, architecture is understood as a measured insertion, capable of responding to distance, logistical complexity and the need to preserve a pre-existing balance.

An architecture that incorporates its surroundings

The four bungalows, each approximately 90 m², are positioned within natural clearings, preserving existing vegetation and maintaining the soil’s stability and natural condition. The decision to elevate the structures through light platforms and shallow foundations not only adapts to the terrain but also preserves its permeability and ecological continuity.

The orientation and positioning of the volumes respond to solar studies and prevailing winds. Cross ventilation, generous roofs and protected openings allow climate to become another material of the project. The architecture absorbs its surroundings, and living spaces extend into terraces and intermediate areas where life unfolds between shade, breeze and vegetation.

Modularity as a tool

Casa Daia represents the second built case of the Modular BV system, developed by the studio in collaboration with the Brazilian company Crosslam. Based on prefabricated modules of reforested eucalyptus CLT, the system allows much of the construction process to take place in a controlled environment, reducing time, waste and uncertainty.

Prefabrication is approached here as an extension of architectural thinking, rather than its replacement. Industrial precision supports the design. This logic had already been explored by the studio in the Modular Bahia project, where the system was applied in a domestic context, and finds in Casa Daia a greater scale and complexity.

Dwelling among natural systems

The spatial experience is organised in terms of gradation. The everyday sequence —from arrival to rest— unfolds through layers: vegetation, shade, wood, air. Architecture acts as a mediator between body and landscape, regulating the intensity of this relationship while maintaining its continuity.

This way of inhabiting is grounded in specific decisions: material continuity, the contained scale of the volumes, the controlled openness of enclosures. There are no superfluous gestures. Each element responds to a climatic, constructive or functional necessity.

A project that incorporates the time of the place

Before any intervention, the project begins with an environmental zoning study that defines where and how to build. Architecture reads the territory before projecting.

This same logic extends to the social dimension. Casa Daia establishes connections with nearby communities such as Pescada Nova and Praia Nova, integrating local labour and supporting social initiatives. At an operational level, it incorporates strategies such as rainwater harvesting, photovoltaic energy, waste management and agroforestry systems, while also reducing the use of disposable plastics.

In a context of accelerated territorial transformation, the project proposes to intervene by preserving the site, to build through balance and to inhabit while maintaining a bond with place. Casa Daia is conceived as part of a broader system in which architecture, landscape and community remain in equilibrium.

Project: Casa Deia.
Location: Barra dos Remédios – Barroquinha, Ceará, Brasil.
Built area: 4 bungalows de 90 m² cada uno.
Site area: 220 hectares.
Completion: 2025.
Architecture: UNA Barbara e Valentim.
Authors: Fernanda Bárbara, Fabio Valentim.
Team: Breno Sá Leitão, Rodrigo Carvalho, Camila Ungaro, Luís Cunha, Mariana Nunes.
Engineered timber supplier: Crosslam.
Construction: Abaeté Construtora e Incorporadora.
Interior design: Estudio MNMA.
Photography: Víctor Collor.
Source: UNA Barbara e Valentim.

Una Barbara e Valentim

Founded by Fernanda Barbara and Fabio Valentim, the studio Una Barbara e Valentim unfolds an architecture deeply connected to place, conceived in São Paulo and extended with sensitivity across Brazil. Since 1996, Fernanda and Fabio have shared a professional journey that began with Una Arquitetos, shaping an architectural poetics committed to both collective and individual life through the built environment. In 2019, they consolidated this vision under their current name, UNA Barbara e Valentim. See full biography.

Project by Una Barbara e Valentim