A bouldering wall in this São Paulo apartment designed by Nati Minas & Studio and Gabriela Mestriner allows a sports-loving couple to scale their double-height living room.

The 220-square-metre Musa apartment in the Itaim Bibi neighbourhood was renovated to reflect its residents' active lifestyles.

Local firms Nati Minas & Studio and Gabriela Mestriner added colourful hand and foot holds up one wall in the living room, reaching up to the pitched ceiling of the tall space.

"The couple's request for the top floor was to create a meeting place where they could welcome friends and family and spend quality time together," said the studio.

Overall, the renovation involved lightening up the residence, while adding texture in the social spaces with white trowelled-putty walls and porcelain floor tiles cut into shards.

Beside the climbing wall, where the ceiling height drops, is a TV room tucked into a corner beside a long window and a bank of planters.

Audio-visual equipment is housed against a wood-backed unit with a steel frame and metal-mesh shelves, which wraps around the staircase opening.

On the other side, more pale-wood storage forms a bar that leads towards a sliding door, providing access to the glass-enclosed balcony.

This area features a hot tub, and a stainless-steel dining table alongside a built-in bench for enjoying casual meals cooked on the adjacent grill.

The glazed roof and windows provide a panoramic view of the skyline, but can be shaded with a canopy of Roman blinds when it gets too bright.

Bedrooms and the kitchen are located on the lower floor, reached via a flight of slender, floating metal treads.

"A new staircase was built to add more closet depth to the master bedroom, with a design that is half in depth and half overhanging, with light metal sheets," said Nati Minas & Studio.

The kitchen is separated from a lounge and games room by an arrival area lined with wood, into which cabinets and the front door were built.

An amorphous wooden island projects from a stainless steel counter, which matches the lower cabinetry, while mesh-fronted storage overhead allows light from the window to pass through.

Although neutrally decorated, the apartment is dotted with colourful furniture and artwork, including a bright-red bed frame in the primary suite.

"Loose furniture always comes in as a spice to the atmosphere created as a base," the studio said. "Here, there are neutral tones wandering between ecru, mint green, moss green, light wood and worked stones."

This isn't the first residence to include climbing apparatus inside and designers have come up with several ways to appease their active clients.

For example, a villa in Tuscany features a blue staircase that doubles as a climbing wall, while a forest home in Finland is equipped with a climbing wall, gymnastic apparatus and a net covering a cut-out in one of the floors.

The photography is by Carolina Lacaz.