People
Small by design.
Deep where it matters.
Clients remain close to the people making the decisions.
The studio's core leadership is deliberately compact. Around it, we assemble the architects, engineers, landscape specialists, builders, makers and advisors each property actually requires.
No layers for the sake of layers.
Philippe Naouri
Founder / Creative Director / Development
The first line starts with Philippe.
Philippe establishes the point of view of each project: reading the property, defining what should remain, what should change and how the house should ultimately live.
For more than fifteen years, he has worked across the design, development and reimagination of significant residences in Malibu and Los Angeles.
His work sits between design, property, development, interiors and collecting.
He remains involved through the final edit.
His role
- Property vision
- Creative direction
- Development
- Interiors
- Collection
- Final edit
Preserve the idea. Improve the life.
Jacobsen Arquitetura
Architecture Partner
Architectural depth behind the idea.
Jacobsen Arquitetura joins selected commissions as the studio's architecture partner, bringing the scale, technical rigor and international residential experience required to resolve complex houses.
The relationship is not an external credit added at the end.
Jacobsen becomes part of the project team.
Philippe establishes the creative direction and intent of the house. Jacobsen helps translate it into rigorous, resolved and buildable architecture, alongside the licensed architects, engineers and specialists each project requires.
Its record includes Architectural Digest México y Latinoamérica recognition, Architizer recognition among leading Brazilian practices, the Prix Versailles and an Architizer A+ Award.
Their role
- Architecture
- Technical design
- Documentation
- Coordination
- Execution rigor
Architecture Partner
Selected recognition
Awards, exhibitions and distinctions of the practice and of Bernardes & Jacobsen, its earlier form.
- 2023Architectural Digest México y Latinoamérica: Jacobsen Arquitetura elected one of the 100 most relevant and creative architecture firms in Latin America.
- 2023Architizer: Jacobsen Arquitetura elected one of the 25 best Brazilian architecture firms.
- 2022Prix Versailles 2022: Special Prize for an Exterior, Central America, the South and the Caribbean, shopping malls category.
- 2018Lecture at the Société française des architectes, Paris: “A vision of paradise”.
- 2015Participation in the Argentine Biennial.
- 2015Casa Cidade Mundo exhibition, Hélio Oiticica Art Center, Rio de Janeiro.
- 2014Winner of the Architizer A+ Awards, Museum category, popular vote (River Art Museum).
- 2013Nine New (Neun Neue): emerging architects from Brazil, Frankfurt.
- 2013Veja Rio Award: Paulo Jacobsen elected Carioca of the Year, architecture category.
- 2011Wallpaper*: Bernardes & Jacobsen elected among the 100 most influential people in the world.
- 2011Globo Talent Award.
- 2010Bernardes & Jacobsen awarded at the International Architecture Biennial, São Paulo.
- 2009Bernardes & Jacobsen awarded by the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB) for two residential projects.
- 2009River (Sea) Art Museum project.
- 2008Second place in the competition for the Image and Sound Museum (MIS), Rio de Janeiro.
- 2006Bernardes & Jacobsen take part in the “Encore Moderne” exhibition, Paris.
Laurent Bellandi
Managing Director / Operations / Brand / Client Development
Making complexity feel simple.
Laurent leads the operational and commercial side of the studio: client relationships, partnerships, administration, communications and the structure around each commission.
For clients, Laurent is also the point of continuity, from the first conversation through the life of a project.
Architecture may involve dozens of specialists and hundreds of decisions.
The client should not have to feel all of them.
His role
- Operations
- Client relationships
- Partnerships
- Brand
- Commercial coordination
- Studio development
One project. One team.
The team changes because every house is different.
We do not force every project through the same fixed organization.
A Malibu rebuild may require a very different group of specialists from a protected Mid-Century restoration or a ground-up hillside residence.
The core leadership remains close to the project. Around it, we assemble the expertise the property requires:
- Architecture
- Structural Engineering
- MEP
- Civil
- Geotechnical
- Landscape
- Lighting
- AV & Technology
- Wildfire & Resilience
- General Contracting
- Fabrication
- Art Advisory
- Collectible Design
- Restoration
The studio coordinates the disciplines around one idea rather than asking the client to manage a collection of disconnected specialists.
Beyond the studio
The best house rarely comes from one discipline.
We work with people who are exceptional at very specific things.
- 01A structural engineer who understands how to make an opening feel effortless.
- 02A landscape architect who sees the land as part of the architecture.
- 03A dealer who knows where an important piece has been for the last sixty years.
- 04A fabricator who understands that a three-millimeter junction matters.
- 05A builder who knows when precision is more important than speed.
We build those relationships carefully.
Because ultimately, the quality of a house depends on the quality of the people making it.
The client is part of the team
We design with people, not for an abstract brief.
The best projects are conversations.
Our clients bring their way of living, their history, their collection, their ambitions and sometimes their contradictions.
Our role is to listen closely enough to understand what matters — and then be decisive enough to turn it into architecture.
You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what the house should be.
That is what the process is for.
A house starts with people.
What are you considering?
Whether you own the house, own the site, are considering a property or are rebuilding, the first step is a Private Project Review. You do not need to arrive with a finished brief.