The home with “the circus tent roof” sat on the market for 6 years before Isabella and Diogo visited its dark maze of tiny rooms. Seeing potential in its modernist history they bought it and began to uncover its more playful past.

Architects Pablo and Alberto Twose (Two Bo architects) began to study the home’s geometry and discovered beneath the slanting walls a triangular pattern that formed variations of hexagons and octagons. Using these shapes as a guide, they took down walls and doors to abolish the confusing labyrinth of rooms in favor of bright open spaces that flow together like a child’s puzzle.

The Twoses called it Casa Tangram in reference to the Chinese dissection puzzle of the same name. By playing with the tangram tiles, the architects created a light-filled space without doors that resembles “a forest with clearings that invite us to stop, play, rest”.

Playful elements run throughout the home, like a centrally-placed hammock as a sofa, a stealth pantry camouflaged behind cladding and a toilet room concealed behind artful tiles. For the work-from-home couple and their young daughter, it’s a wonderland they rarely need to leave.