Condomínio Costa Brava.
Sérgio Bernardes on the rocks, next to Joatinga beach.
Joá · Rio de Janeiro
About the building
Condomínio Costa Brava in brief.
Costa Brava is a Sérgio Bernardes condominium on the small Joá peninsula that juts into the Atlantic beside Praia da Joatinga — the architect designed the project in 1960 and built his own family residence at the seaward end of the property. The architecture is organic-modernist: stone buttresses anchor the structures into the rock, glass opens the living spaces to the ocean, and the composition is shaped by the cliff rather than imposed on it.
Costa Brava is one of the most architecturally significant residential addresses in Rio and one of only a handful of Bernardes-designed condominiums still operating in their original residential program. Inventory rotates rarely; resales are off-portal and ticket sizes reflect both the seven-figure plate-and-cliff geometry and the architect's standing in Brazilian modernism.
Address
Estrada do Joá s/n (peninsula), Joá, Rio de Janeiro — 22610-000
Distance to
What's around it.
Walk and drive times to the things that decide where you live in Rio — beach, metro, airports, neighborhood anchors.
Praia da Joatinga
5 min walk · trail access
Praia de São Conrado
6 min by car
Metrô Jardim Oceânico (L4)
12 min by car
Santos Dumont Airport
30 min by car
Galeão (GIG)
44 min by car
Pedra da Gávea trailhead
14 min by car
On the map
Condomínio Costa Brava located.
Estrada do Joá s/n (peninsula), Joá, Rio de Janeiro — 22610-000
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History
How it got here.
Designed by Sérgio Bernardes in 1960. Bernardes was, alongside Niemeyer, Lucio Costa and the Roberto brothers, one of the defining figures of Brazilian modernism — and Costa Brava sits among his most cited residential works. He built his own family residence at the end of the property's peninsula and lived in it for decades.
The project was an early Brazilian statement of organic-modernist architecture: the geological reality of the Joá cliffs is the structuring logic, with stone buttresses, terraced platforms, and oriented living spaces. The compositional approach influenced subsequent oceanfront condominium design in Joá and São Conrado.
Costa Brava has been progressively modernized in systems and finishes while the architectural language has been preserved; the building is referenced in the Bernardes Arquitetura archive and in Leonardo Finotti's photographic documentation of mid-century Brazilian modernism.
Recent transactions
What units have closed for.
Costa Brava transactions are exclusively off-portal between specialist Joá brokerages. ADV-verified through direct relationships.
Date
Floor / position
Size
Sale price (BRL)
USD
R$/m²
2026-02
Cliff-band unit
320 m²
R$ 18.8M
$3.69M
R$ 58,800
2025-09
Mid-terrace unit
280 m²
R$ 14.4M
$2.82M
R$ 51,400
2025-04
End-of-peninsula plate
560 m²
R$ 32M
$6.27M
R$ 57,100
Long-term rent
What a unit leases for.
Long-term only. Tenants are typically architects, collectors, or family offices using Costa Brava as a Rio base.
Monthly rent range
R$ 32K – R$ 95K
Long-term lease (12+ months)
Who's lived here
Notable residents.
Where named individuals declined attribution, we describe the owner profile. No address-level identification of current residents.
Sérgio Bernardes (1919–2002)
The architect lived in his own end-of-peninsula residence at Costa Brava for decades — the building remains a working example of his organic-modernist approach.
Carioca architectural & cultural owners
Costa Brava draws a specific buyer profile — architects, collectors, cultural figures — who prioritize the Bernardes authorship and the cliffside geometry over the generic Joá luxury condominium offering.
Available now
No active units. For the moment.
We currently have no mandates inside Condomínio Costa Brava. Inventory in this building moves rarely and often off-portal. Tell us you're watching it — we'll come to you the moment a unit becomes available.
Or write directly: info@artdevivre.com.br
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