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Project Details:

Location: Nova Lima, Brazil

Architect: TETRO Arquitectura / @tetro.arquitectura

Footprint: 5,382 square feet

Builder: Engecapo

Structural Engineer: MEstturas

Photographer: Jomar Bragança / @jomarbraganca

From the Architect: “A place immersed in lush Atlantic rainforest nature. A terrain filled with large leafy trees, foliage, shrubs, birds, and wild animals. A challenging topography with a steep slope, characteristic of the Nova Lima region in Minas Gerais. This is the place where Casa Açucena is inserted.

“The project is a response to a sensitive reading of the place. In its first contact with this terrain, the need to maintain the natural characteristics is already clear. The act of looking upward, from the ground to the canopy of trees, elevated up to fifty feet above ground level, was decisive for the creation of the concept. How to build in a place with such a steep topography, while maintaining the original nature? How to give the residents the daily experience of looking up and seeing the sky through the treetops. These were the questions that guided all design decisions.

“The belief that architecture should mold to the terrain, and not the other way around, was the starting point. The house rises above the ground and the animal and plant life develops underneath. The program shapes itself by occupying the empty spaces between the trees, none of which were removed. The topography was left changed. From this point on, no choice or design decision was made by taste or will of the architect. Everything is a response and is intended to reinforce the concept.

“The house, in its white color, is a surprise to those who arrive. Its randomly placed black pillars blend in with the trunks. The house seems to float. Its fluid plan, a result of the program's occupation among the trees, and its openings and folds in the slab to reach the view of the treetops, generate the geometry. The architecture is harmoniously inserted next to the natural vegetation, while maintaining its presence.”