Casa Tupin: Daniel Mangabeira’s Windowless Wonder That Breathes Light and Air

Rethinking the Role of Windows in Residential Architecture

The term “windowless house” might perplex conventional architects and homeowners alike—after all, windows have long been associated with comfort, daylight, and visual connection to the outside world. Yet emerging trends in residential design, particularly from the work of acclaimed Brazilian architect Daniel Mangabeira (principal at BLOCO Arquitetos), challenge conventional perceptions of how homes should breathe light and air.

While no official documentation of a project titled Casa Tupin currently exists in architectural publications or BLOCO’s own project listings, the concept—an evocative “windowless wonder”—offers a launching point to explore themes central to Mangabeira’s completed works. In particular, BLOCO’s thoughtful use of screened masonry facades, internal courtyards, and permeable surface treatments provides a pioneering approach to climate-responsive and privacy-conscious living.

Designing for Light and Air Without Conventional Windows

In tropical and subtropical regions, resolving the paradox of openness and environmental control is particularly essential. Mangabeira’s work demonstrates how one can bring illumination, ventilation, and spatial fluidity into a house while minimizing or even eliminating traditional glazed openings.

Perforated Skins and Layered Facades

BLOCO Arquitetos frequently employs porous masonry facades that act as “second skins.” These architectural layers offer selective permeability, allowing daylight and air to pass through small gaps while maintaining privacy, shading, and visual comfort. The Casa dos Tijolos Brancos (“House of White Bricks”) is an exemplary case where artisanally laid brick screens provide light-modulating surfaces that function in place of large windows.

The bricks are laid in varying densities depending on orientation, programming, and privacy needs. Unlike standard fenestration, the façade becomes an active, breathable membrane, filtering light while stimulating airflow through the use of cross-ventilation and passive stack effect principles.

Inner Courtyards and Skylight Strategies

For dwellings skeptical of external transparency, interior courtyards provide a controlled and serene illumination model. Strategically placed patios wash adjacent walls with diffuse light and offer thermal comfort through evaporative cooling and shade. In dense urban contexts, such spatial configurations safeguard privacy while activating natural movement throughout the house’s volume.

Borrowing from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean precedence, these light wells are often capped or complemented by skylights, clerestory openings, or atria—lending overhead illumination without elevational exposure. The result is a home that “breathes” without compromising environmental protection or visual privacy.

Materials and Technical Innovations in Passive Living

Brick as Thermal and Environmental Moderator

Brick—an ancestral material—is reborn in BLOCO’s work as a performative façade system. Instead of combining brick with aluminum or glazing for detail definition, Mangabeira uses it monolithically, letting its mass, porosity, and textural palette direct the thermal behavior and spatial rhythm of the home.

In the Grid House, for example, the architectural envelope is a grid of concrete beams infilled with modular terracotta bricks arranged in rhythmically porous patterns. This generates variable shading throughout the day, curating a microclimate on the interior and expressively engaging with external conditions.

Ventilation Through Form: Cross and Stack Dynamics

Mangabeira often exploits the performance of passive ventilation through two principal mechanisms:

• Cross-ventilation: Carefully placed openings aligned across rooms allow winds to push stale air through internal volumes. Screened façades and penetrable bricks act as intake and exhaust points.
• Stack effect: Vertical air circulation is empowered through central voids or adjacent vertical slots, often integrated seamlessly into stairwells or patios. Warmer air rises, exits through a skylight or clerestory, and draws cooler air from below.

These techniques help minimize, if not eliminate, mechanical HVAC dependency, contributing to energy conservation while aligning with ecologically responsible design goals.

Performance Detailing: Masonry, Shading, and Structure

BLOCO’s detailing reflects an intersection of artisanal familiarity and performance-based precision:

• Masonry layout considers solar orientation and privacy gradients. Dense bonds shield bathrooms or bedrooms, while looser arcs brighten living areas.
• Roof overhangs and vertical fins modulate sun exposure, reducing thermal load on key elevations.
• Structural independence between the exposed concrete frame and infill masonry permits customization and future adaptation without costly interventions.

Regional Traditions and Global Resonance

Mangabeira’s ideas resonate beyond Brazil and signal a shift in how we understand windows, light, and enclosure. A look into regional methods across the globe reveals a shared architectural aspiration: breathing beyond glass.

Case Study Summary: Lessons from BLOCO’s Portfolio

Casa dos Tijolos Brancos (2023)

Located in Brasília, this residence uses a patterned white brick screen to craft a microclimate of light and shadow. The “brise-brick” system ensures both privacy and openness, with operable shutters hidden behind select portions for discreet adjustment.

Grid House (2016)

A concrete structural grid filled with modular bricks forms an adaptable envelope. Internal gardens and patios are distributed rhythmically, allowing the home to unfold gently into the sloping terrain it inhabits. Rather than incorporating large glazed sections, carefully punctured masonry facilitates the home’s breathability.

Beyond BLOCO: Similar Typologies Globally

• Australian courtyard houses: Rely on landscape and high walls for privacy, supported by clerestory daylighting and airflow via central voids.
• European Passivhaus designs: Prioritize insulation and heat exchange with controlled openings, reducing glazed area but optimizing performance.
• Mediterranean riads and patios: Historic courtyards and tessellated breezeways that echo passive principles now rediscovered in contemporary approaches.

Key Takeaways for Architects, Builders, and Homeowners

• Reimagine transparency: Windows are not the only means to capture light and air. Consider porous materials that blend form and function.
• Integrate performance into the envelope itself—use masonry or layered façades to create comfort zones between exposure and shelter.
• Enhance passive strategies: Let natural cross-ventilation and stack effect guide your layout and massing decisions.
• Design for region-specific conditions: Account for sun orientation, wind paths, and cultural expectations to optimize envelope performance.
• Prioritize privacy without sacrificing permeability: Architectural screens, internal patios, and non-transparent openings help keep dwellings dignified and delightful.

Ultimately, Daniel Mangabeira’s ethos as embodied by BLOCO Arquitetos reconceptualizes the residential envelope—not as a barrier broken only by glazing, but as an active system of light, air, and brick. Whether or not Casa Tupin manifests as a built work, the idea it inspires is no less impactful: A house that breathes through stone, sees without glass, and lives in concert with its climate.