The Zakopane style, shaped at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by Stanisław Witkiewicz , was originally a trend in the wooden architecture of the Podhale region, and then permeated into brick construction and applied arts. Its features include constructions and carpentry details inspired by Podhale craftsmanship, elaborate eaves, balcony galleries and ornamental carving.

In Brazil, traces of this style appeared mainly in the regions of strong Polish colonisation in the south of the country. Polish discourse even noted the idea of 'building in the Zakopane style' in the state of Paraná, where a large diaspora had settled during the gold rush. The aforementioned Witkiewicz would even receive letters from the Brazilian Polish community asking him to send designs not only for houses, but also for furniture or everyday items that were to remind his compatriots in Brazil of their former homeland. And especially the landscape of the Podhale region. Zakopane thus functioned as a recognisable symbol of 'Polishness' that could be recreated outside Europe.

The best-documented example of the use of Zakopane patterns in a public building is the town hall in Itaiópolis (Santa Catarina) , erected in 1988 "no estilo Zakopane", as confirmed by the city's tourist portal and an encyclopaedic entry about the city. The building replaced the previous seat of the authorities and is located on Avenida Getúlio Vargas; local source materials emphasise the link between its form and the highland tradition.

At the same time, Zakopane motifs are used in reconstructions and museum displays related to immigrant heritage. In Nova Prata (Rio Grande do Sul) there is a 'Casa Polonesa' described as a 'replica according to the building standards of the Zakopane region', built of wood with a characteristic porch and veranda; the building is listed as a tourist attraction.

There are reports in the local media of efforts to preserve houses of this style in other localities in southern Brazil, such as in Bento Gonçalves . The settlement context, especially in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, has favoured the consolidation of forms derived from Polish construction and their adaptations to local climatic and material conditions.

In practice, this results in buildings combining regional structural solutions with recognisable stylistic elements such as profiled eaves and soaring roofs. Although the 'Brazilian Zakopane style' is not formally a distinct school, it provides a useful label to describe selected developments and reconstructions in the south of the country, in which immigrant patterns from the Podhale were transformed and incorporated into the local heritage.