When architect João Paulo Meirelles de Faria first visited this site on the road between the Brazilian cities of Salto de Pirapora and Sorocaba, there was nothing there. “The site is much larger than the designed house and had no vegetation or neighbors yet,” remembers João Paulo, founding partner of the São Paulo–based firm Vereda Arquitetos.

According to the firm, the 1,000-square-meter lot has an eight-meter slope, so the challenge was to fashion a home that worked in concert with the grade and could retain an open central living area from front to back. “The owners wanted a house that was very open to the outside—that would be in contact with nature, including between the interior spaces,” says João Paulo of his clients, who are a pair of university professors with a newborn baby girl.

The firm’s design plan started with three concrete volumes, each with five sides and partially submerged in the sloping land, their levels differing according to the topography. These volumes are composed of cinder block and “form the internal spaces of the house,” says João Paulo, such as the bedrooms, bathrooms, and the laundry area.

The firm then topped these volumes with a reinforced concrete slab to shape the core of the home, which is a combined kitchen, dining, and living area with sightlines to the front and back of the site.

The rectangular roof deliberately does not line up with the cinder block masses beneath it, instead cantilevering some four meters deep in spots. This creates a “very light effect on the whole,” says João Paulo, as well as “a series of spaces with very diverse characteristics.”

Shop the Look

The roofs of the cinder-block volumes are covered in plantings, some enclosed and some exposed, thanks to the rectangular roof overhead. This creates a fluid boundary between inside and out, with the homeowners able to enjoy a covered veranda, internal gardens, and a grass-covered balcony off the master bedroom. Walls of glass, many of them pivoting panels, fill in the gaps between the cinder block and roof slab, bringing natural light deep into the interior.

Related Reading:

An Expansive Grass Roof Tops This Modern Brazilian Home

A Green Roof Helps Camouflage This Striking Home in Brazil

Project Credits:

Architecture: Vereda Arquitetos / @veredaarquitetos

Builder: Campos Construções

Structural Engineer: STEC do Brasil Ltda

Civil Engineer: JPD Instalações

Interior Styling: VMA / Paulo Kinna