A House in the Forest

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The house appears to float, with a fluid plan dictated by the program’s occupation among the trees, and its openings and folds in the slab, reaching the view of the treetops. The project is a response to a sensitive reading of the terrain, where first contact dictated the need to maintain its natural characteristics.

Tetro presents house, a place immersed in lush Atlantic Rainforest nature including large leafy trees, foliage, shrubs, birds, and wild animals. The house is inserted into a challenging topography with a steep slope.

The project is a response to a sensitive reading of the terrain, where first contact dictated the need to maintain its natural characteristics. The act of looking upwards, from the ground to the fifteen-meter canopy of the trees, was decisive for the creation of a concept addressing the challenge of building in a place with such steep topography, while maintaining its natural surroundings and providing residents with the daily experience of looking up and seeing the sky through the treetops.

The initial understanding was that the architecture should mold itself to the terrain, and not the other way around. The house rises above the ground, while animal and plant life develops underneath. The program shapes itself as a harmonious balance of art and nature, occupying the empty spaces between the trees, without removing any or altering the topography. From that starting point, all design decisions made as responses to reinforce that concept.

The house, in its white color, is surprising to those arriving, with its randomly placed black pillars blending in with the tree trunks. The house appears to float, with a fluid plan dictated by the program’s occupation among the trees, and its openings and folds in the slab, reaching the view of the treetops and generating volumetry.

The architecture is harmoniously inserted alongside the natural vegetation, yet maintains its presence. Surprise and novelty are values inherent to art, and house presents itself as a white flower in the midst of nature.

Other images can be seen in the gallery down below

Data
Responsible Architects: Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes and Igor Macedo
Location: Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Completion year: 2021
Total built area (m2): 500 m²
Photographer: Jomar Bragança
Other participants
Contributors:
Laura Georgia Rodrigues Layoun
Otávio
Daniele Meloni
Déborah Martins
Concrete structural project: MV Estruturas
Construction: Engecapo

About Tetro
Founded by architects Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes, and Igor Macedo, Tetro is an architecture studio based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil that works globally. The office’s professional practice is based on the careful study of premises and conditions presented by a location and the client, always seeking a unique and irreplicable solution to each project. Fundamentals such as integration with nature, use of apparent materials, and exploration of empty spaces are characteristics that permeate all of Tetro’s work.