FRAD.E

History

The story of FRAD.E begins before the condominium. In the late 1940s, the Rio businessman Carlos Borges got to know the Costa Verde while diving and underwater hunting; he bought the first farm in 1958 and, in 1961, the Frade property. According to the chronology published by the group he founded, it was in 1970 that Borges approached the architect Ephim Shluger for the conceptual design of a hotel there; the first apartment block was ready in 1971 and the Hotel do Frade opened in May 1972. By 1974 there were already five blocks, 96 apartments and four chalets; in 1978 the Marina Porto Frade was born, with 68 lots of 600 to 1,000 m², for which Borges had channels opened and the beach dredged; in 1982 the first nine holes of the golf course were completed — Borges had been the first president of the Brazilian Golf Association, founded in 1958.

It was on this foundation — “the 40-year tradition of a success story,” in the words of the development’s own material — that Frade reinvented itself as FRAD.E: a residential and leisure complex that brings together, at a single address, a marina, a golf course, a beach, a private club, a shopping boulevard, a luxury hotel and residential villas. The most recent chapter dates from 2017, when the condominium gained the Hotel Fasano Angra dos Reisi.

• Concept: turning a historic resort into a living destination — the resident buys the house and inherits the infrastructure of a five-star hotel, with a marina, golf and hotel service on the doorstep.
• Curiosities: the golf course runs at the foot of Pico do Frade and is surrounded by the ruins of the old Fazenda do Frade, with waterfalls, natural pools and a small chapel built with stones from the local waterfall, a setting for weddings and christenings. The marina faces the Boulevard Carlos Borges, named after the founder. And the hotel maintains a private island, Ilha Catitas, with its own structure, exclusive to guests.

Architecture and aesthetics

FRAD.E does not have a façade: it has a layout. What gives the complex its unity is the distribution of the pieces across the land — the marina and boulevard by the sea, the golf course against the Atlantic Forest at the foot of the mountains, the residential villas between the beach and the lake. The architectural authorship of the contemporary chapter belongs to Bernardes Arquiteturai, the practice of Thiago Bernardes, which is responsible for both the hotel design and the residential villas. At the hotel, the development’s material describes a volume sized to be a discreet counterpoint to the lush nature of the place, with a palette developed room by room — from terracotta and ochre to shades of blue and green —, fabrics dyed exclusively for the house, furniture by Brazilian designers, and lighting fixtures and basketry sourced from artisans in the region.

In the residences, the same practice unfolded the programme into three villas of distinct personalities: Vila Maris, leaning over the bay, with two verandas per house — one facing the beach, the other the garden; Vila Acqua, with verandas over a lake and generous distance between units; and Vila Natura, with integrated living areas and low maintenance, over a reflecting pool. The common thread is the Brazilian modernist repertoire read in a contemporary key, with the house open to the outdoors and the forest as backdrop.

Aesthetics and scarcity

Technical specifications

• Towers and units: it is not a tower. It is a horizontal destination condominium, organised into residential villas — Vila Maris, Vila Acqua and Vila Natura —, plus the historic stock of houses and lots at Frade. The development’s material describes a property of 17 million square metres on the Costa Verde.
• Sizes: Vila Maris, residences from 297 to 594 m²; Vila Acqua, from 250 to 501 m². Vila Natura has no size declared in the official source.
• Parking: not declared by the development.
• Structural highlights: its own marina, facing the Boulevard Carlos Borges, 80 nautical miles from Rio de Janeiro and 68 from Ilhabela, with capacity for large vessels; a licensed helipad within the condominium (SNFD code); an 18-hole, par-72 golf course, 6,420 yards, designed by the British Dave Thomas and Peter Alliss; Marea Club, the destination’s private club; a boulevard of shops and restaurants; a two-thousand-square-metre spa with eight treatment rooms, overlooking the marina.
• Registry and parameters: a destination condominium on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, outside the scope of urban planning parameters of the São Paulo survey. Registry authority not confirmed by any source — the field is left blank.

Leisure and facilities

• Marea Club, the destination’s private club
• 18-hole, par-72 golf course
• Marina do Frade
• Helipad
• Spa and spa kids
• Fitness centre
• Pools
• Children’s play room and Kids Club
• Multi-sport and beach tennis courts on Praia do Frade
• Squash court and tennis courts
• Boulevard of shops, bars and lounges
• Restaurants and panetteria
• Praia do Frade

Location and surroundings

Points of interest · distances in metres

Access

• By land: Rodovia Governador Mário Covas (BR-101, the Rio–Santos highway), between the Serra do Mar mountains and the Atlantic.
• By sea: the Frade marina is 80 nautical miles from Rio de Janeiro and 68 from Ilhabela.
• By air: Angra dos Reis airport, with a 913 x 30 m runway, is about 20 minutes away, according to the condominium itself.

Angra dos Reis: the address

Angra dos Reisi is not a neighbourhood: it is a municipality on the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro state, the heart of the Costa Verde, with 365 islands in the bay — a coincidence the region has turned into an invitation. The Atlantic Forest comes down the Serra do Mar and meets the sea; between the two runs the BR-101, the old Rio–Santos road, which links Rio to São Paulo along one of the country’s most beautiful roads. It is worth saying outright that this road is also the region’s only land access: it is what sets the pace of the weekend, and it is precisely for that reason that, in Angra’s highest-end addresses, a marina and a helipad are not decorative luxury — they are arrival infrastructure. Praia do Frade is a little over thirty kilometres from central Angra, in the direction of Paratyi, and by boat it sits halfway between Ilha Grande and the islands of the bay.