Condomínio Costa Brava — Joá, Rio de Janeiro

About the building

Costa Brava is a Sérgio Bernardes condominium on the small Joá peninsula that pushes into the Atlantic next to Praia da Joatinga. The architect designed it in 1960 and built his own family home at the seaward tip of the property. The architecture is organic-modernist: stone buttresses lock the structures into the rock, glass opens the living spaces to the ocean, and the layout follows the shape of the cliff rather than fighting it.

It is one of Rio's most architecturally important residential addresses and one of only a few Bernardes-designed condominiums still running as originally intended. Apartments rarely change hands, resales happen off the portals, and prices reflect both the cliffside geometry and the architect's place in Brazilian modernism.

Address: Estrada do Joá s/n, Joá, Rio de Janeiro

History

Sérgio Bernardes designed Costa Brava in 1960. Alongside Niemeyer, Lucio Costa and the Roberto brothers, he was one of the central figures of Brazilian modernism, and this is counted among his most-cited residential works. He built his own home at the end of the peninsula and lived there for years.

The project was an early Brazilian example of organic-modernist design, with the geology of the Joá cliffs driving the structure through stone buttresses, terraced platforms and carefully oriented living spaces. It has been modernized in its systems and finishes while keeping the original architecture, and it is documented in the Bernardes Arquitetura archive and in Leonardo Finotti's photography of mid-century Brazilian modernism. The condominium took on its current name after a 2019 renovation led by Bernardes' grandson, architect Thiago Bernardes.

In photos

Condomínio Costa Brava — exterior — Condomínio Costa Brava

Notable residents

Sérgio Bernardes (1919-2002) The architect who designed the condominium and built his own home at the tip of the peninsula, where he lived for decades.

Source: Leonardo Finotti — Condomínio Sergio Bernardes