Where Collaborative BIM Brings Tropical Visions to Life

Where Collaborative BIM Brings Tropical Visions to Life

Discover how Jacobsen Arquitetura uses Archicad and BIM collaboration to design innovative tropical architecture across Brazil and beyond.

Client Success Story 

Where Collaborative BIM
Brings Tropical Visions to Life

Jacobsen Arquitetura, Brazil

MJE House, Brazil, Jacobsen Arquitetura, jacobsenarquitetura.com, Photo: ©Leonardo Finotti

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About

Archicad

Project

Design

Visualization

Summary

Brazilian practice Jacobsen Arquitetura showcases the power of BIM collaboration in delivering innovative tropical architecture for a global audience. Using Archicad, the 110-member team connects offices across Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Lisbon to design projects that merge local culture with modern precision. Their MJE House, the signature project for Archicad 29 exemplifies this synergy—leveraging Archicad for topographical analysis, structural coordination, and visualization of complex elements like a 7.5m cantilever and a bespoke wooden façade. Through seamless BIM workflows, the practice achieves design consistency, adaptability to regional standards, and enduring creative expression across international projects.

About
Tropical architecture for a global audience

Brazilian practice Jacobsen Arquitetura is known for its signature ‘tropical architecture’. The team designs striking buildings that sit effortlessly within their environment, combining natural materials to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces.

The firm’s unique style is influenced by modernism while respecting the architecture of colonial and indigenous roots.

With 110 team members working from offices in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Lisbon, the practice delivers residential, hospitality and commercial projects around the globe.

Project: MJE House
Project Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Firm: Jacobsen Arquitetura
Project Type: Residential
Project size: 1.436 sqm / 15,457 sqf
Year of Completion: 2023
Software used: Graphisoft Archicad, Graphisoft BIMcloud

A man with short brown hair and light facial hair stands in sunlight, wearing a dark shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is indoors with some shadows.

Integration was key for us, which is why we chose Archicad for the entire team — it aligns with our philosophy and way of working.

Francisco Rugeroni, Head of International Projects, Jacobsen Arquitetura
Archicad
BIM collaboration and creative excellence

For Jacobsen Arquitetura, Archicad is an essential tool that enables the firm to maintain its prominence in the global architectural landscape, delivering large-scale projects that combine technical precision and creative excellence in any part of the world.
With the help of Archicad, Jacobsen Arquitetura ensures each project is designed to meet the cultural and technical standards for each location, while maintaining the practice’s creative vision.

Archicad also enables global collaboration and efficient project management. Its collaborative BIM workflow allows the Jacobsen team to have a clear view of all project details, facilitating communication with teams in different countries while maintaining design consistency and integrity.

Learn the foundations of Teamwork in Archicad and understand the benefits of this workflow for multidisciplinary projects by completing our self-paced online course, Teamwork in Archicad.

A man with short brown hair and light facial hair stands in sunlight, wearing a dark shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is indoors with some shadows.

Archicad has become an indispensable tool for us…The platform not only enhances coordination and quality control but also helps us maintain design consistency on a global scale, delivering projects that reflect our vision and technical excellence.

Francisco Rugeroni, Head of International Projects, Jacobsen Arquitetura

Discover how Archicad supports creative design thinking and collaboration while boosting productivity.

A tablet displays a cover page titled Future-Proof Your Firm with modern wooden building design and geometric color blocks. The cover also features the GRAPHISOFT logo at the bottom.
Future-proof with BIM

Learn more about how collaborative BIM workflows aided by Graphisoft’s tools can help you transform your business.
Download our insightful guide, ‘Future-Proof Your Firm’, an invaluable resource that offers insights into BIM, BIMx, BIMcloud and Archicad, equipping you with the tools and knowledge to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

Download the eBook
Project
Bringing the concept to life

The signature project for Archicad 29 and a showcase for BIM collaboration, MJE House blends spacious living areas with natural materials, bringing the concept of tropical architecture to life.
A weekend residence designed for entertaining family and friends, the house enjoys sweeping views across mountains and lakes.
Located on a sloping plot, Jacobsen Arquitetura conducted topographical studies to understand how the two-story property would interact with and blend into the surrounding landscape.
The final design of the low-level, six-bedroom house incorporates a large entertainment area with gardens and a swimming pool, fully integrated with its countryside setting.

Explore the Gallery
A man with short brown hair and light facial hair stands in sunlight, wearing a dark shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is indoors with some shadows.

Archicad allows us to explore ideas. It is very agile.

Francisco Rugeroni, Head of International Projects, Jacobsen Arquitetura
A car is parked on a grassy hill at sunset, overlooking a landscape with a lake to the left and the sun setting near the horizon. Labels indicate the LAKE and SUNSET in the scene.
A minimal site diagram shows an oval plot divided into four zones, with icons indicating a neighbor to the northeast, a lake to the southeast, and a golf camp to the southwest. SITE VIEWS is labeled on the upper left.
Design
Dramatic design and integration

Achieving seamless integration between the interior and exterior spaces, while maximizing the views of the mountains and lakes, was essential to the design concept.
The house is structured around two non-orthogonal blocks, supported at an angle on a large plateau housing the guest suites and the entertainment areas. Modeling the project in Archicad, the team quickly realized that in the initial design, the lake wouldn’t be visible from the living area – as it was set well back from the plateau’s edge. The solution was to lower the plateau by half a meter. This change also created a floating volume for the bedrooms.
A highlight of the design is the dramatic cantilever created by the volume housing the master suite, which extends over the terrain created by the lower floor and offers panoramic views of the lake and the sunset.

A man with short brown hair and light facial hair stands in sunlight, wearing a dark shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is indoors with some shadows.

With the help of Archicad, it was much faster to model the 7.5m cantilever. The structural and MEP coordination was straightforward with BIM. It was easy to make the necessary adjustments to keep the design aesthetic.

Francisco Rugeroni, Head of International Projects, Jacobsen Arquitetura
Architectural rendering of a modern, two-level building on a sloped site, featuring large glass windows and wooden panel accents. Outdoor stairs and an inset floor plan illustrate seamless BIM collaboration in the design process.
A modern, minimalistic terrace designed with BIM collaboration overlooks a scenic landscape of green fields, a lake, distant mountains, and tall palm trees enhancing the serene view.
Visualization
Visualizing a bespoke façade

The house features a striking bespoke façade. Designed in collaboration with the property owners, the geometrically arranged wood panels offer protection from the sun during the daytime and can be adjusted for ventilation and privacy. Meanwhile, at night, the façade works almost like a lantern, casting beautiful shadows while allowing the dancing light to shine through.
When the client wanted to understand the sun’s impact on the house, Jacobsen Arquitetura undertook a Sun Study within Archicad to visualize how the eaves and the panels combined to protect from the strong midday sun.
With the help of Archicad and BIM collaboration, the final design achieved the perfect balance between solar orientation, landscape views and privacy.

A man with short brown hair and light facial hair stands in sunlight, wearing a dark shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is indoors with some shadows.

We use Archicad not as a tool but as a creative process.

Francisco Rugeroni, Head of International Projects, Jacobsen Arquitetura
Side-by-side images: left shows a diagram of a modular vertical wooden screen; right shows the assembled screen installed, with several people standing behind it and a landscape visible through the gaps.
Architectural rendering of a modern building with a horizontal layout, featuring a facade of vertical wooden slats and extended platforms, shown in a side elevation view.
Modern building with a facade of vertical wooden slats, illuminated from within at dusk. The structure is elevated above a green lawn and garden, with a stone retaining wall visible in the foreground.
Get creative with Archicad

Register here to watch Francisco Rugeroni’s presentation from the Graphisoft Ignite event and learn more about how Jacobsen Arquitetura uses Archicad as a creative process, rather than a tool.

A modern building with wood paneling and large glass windows is pictured on the left, while a man stands with folded arms on the right. Text reads “Jacobsen Arquitetura Seamless Tropical Architecture.”.