Dado Castello Branco

A celebration of the renowned Brazilian architecture and interior design firm, Dado Castello Branco Arquitetura e Interiores, showcasing the practice’s signature style and sophisticated approach.

Across Brazil and around the world, the elegant and meticulously crafted spaces designed by the firm Dado Castello Branco Arquitetura e Interiores are known for blending functionality with aesthetic allure. These places—residences, apartments, and villas, all in the signature style the firm has honed since its founding in São Paulo in the early 1990s—are brought to cinematic life by Brazilian artistic director and visual artist Ricardo van Steen. In these pages, van Steen stages a visual journey through four key elements of the company’s sophisticated design vision: He considers light as medium and muse, almost a character in the drama of each living, breathing space. He attends to matter, meaning the very materials of wood, copper, stone, fabric, and glass through which Dado’s designs achieve their richness and authenticity. He turns to the horizon, an essential feature that opens up perspectives and creates visual intrigue, serving as a metaphorical guide to the soul of the space. And he closes with art, paying tribute to Dado Castello Branco’s lifelong passion for the artists who inspire him and the art objects whose presence enhances these meticulous interiors. This richly illustrated publication brings us into these worlds of drama and elegance with exclusive photography and a profound consideration of the legacy of this legendary firm.Ricardo van Steen is a Brazilian visual artist and filmmaker, and the director of Shoot Yourself (2012), Noel—Poeta da Vila (2007), and Tinta Fresca (2005). His work has been exhibited at MASP—Museu de Arte de Saõ Paulo, the 7th Bienal do Mercosu, Zipper Galeria, and Galeria Millan in Saõ Paulo. Allex Colontonio is a journalist, writer, and the publisher of POP-SE magazine.