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Project Details:

Location: Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil

Architect: Alan Chu / @alan_chu

Footprint: 840 square feet

Structural Engineer: Alberto Milhomem

Photographer: Joana França

From the Architect: “Casa Monóculo is located in Eldorado, a neighborhood of Alto Paraiso City, the main gateway to Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park in Goias State of Brazil. Despite its proximity to an urban core, the site is characterized by its unique setting composed by the preserved Cerrado vegetation.

“With the intention to minimize the disturbance on its natural setting, the volume has been suspended, providing uninterrupted views of the rising sun with the mountains in the background. Twelve black metal pillars support the construction that has been raised 16 feet above the ground. Its silhouette and trapezoidal shape resemble an old photography monocular, used to visualize an image against the light.

“The narrower base of the trapeze has a magnifying lens that amplifies the photo, while its funnel shape closure intensifies and gives live to the static image. The project borrows the analogy of the Monóculo when providing the frame where experiences can be captured and kept frozen in time.

“The journey to the house is choreographed by a winding staircase that takes you up to be among the tree canopy of the forest where a deck gives access to the house 15 feet above the floor. As part of the buildup, one enters a space of 10 feet ceiling height, and needs to contour a central volume enclosing all the areas serving the house, to discover and unveil a surprise grand opening which instead of framing the view, serves as a receptor, inviting the landscape to fill up the space and our senses.

“The Monóculo house has been designed to not only leave an everlasting memory of the view but to have provided its guests with a unique and unforgettable experience.”