House of Ipês in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was a project embarked upon a decade ago by Marcio Kogan, a design of exposed concrete that many builders deemed practically impossible. The heavy material has been given amazing grace in this construction, with the magnitude appearing to float above the glass volume of the lower floor. In the upper mass, bedrooms surround a central TV room, and receive light via a wooden panel on the facade that is broken into shutters. Both thermally and aesthetically pleasing, when closed these shutters maintain the solid box like appearance of the upper floor, contributing to the elegance of the lower quarters.