“The sun rises here and sets over there,” says Filipe Almendary, standing on a gentle slope near his newly built home. He moves his hand through the air, drawing a full arc over the long, linear wooden volume that sits high on the plot, overlooking a lush valley to one side and deep green woods to the other, just beyond the shimmering pool. “It’s so calm and nice here—we come to relax, swim, and sleep. When it’s sunny, it’s incredible how the shadows change throughout the day.”

It’s hard to believe that this tranquil site lies just an hour and half’s drive from São Paulo. The change of scenery is astonishing—from the overpasses and skyscrapers of South America’s biggest metropolis to the breeze-blown trees and lazily grazing cows of the rural town of Joaquim Egídio. The city feels a world apart from this idyll, which is why Filipe, an engineer, and his wife, the set designer Manuela Tossi, bought land here a few years ago with dreams of building some kind of weekend getaway.

Their first thought was to create a house in the tradition of the region’s historic farms—but then a friend recommended Mapa Architects, and the couple were intrigued by the firm’s cabin-like Minimod prefabs made from cross-laminated timber (CLT). The compact dwellings are designed in the firm’s Porto Alegre and Montevideo offices, made to order in the São Paulo area, and shipped to their final destinations, where they are assembled. Today, there are Minimods scattered across Brazil’s varied woods, hills, and coasts. Though fans of the snug prefabs, Manuela and Filipe wanted something a bit larger and more customized, suitable for their newborn baby girl, their dog, and many houseguests.

Their 3,336-square-foot residence with a prefab CLT structure is divided into two wings. One is more private, with two suites overlooking the valley below and a row of bunk beds that can be sectioned off with sliding doors (for the friends who visit any chance they can get). The other wing holds an open-plan kitchen/dining/living space.

“The silence here is the best. For those of us coming from São Paulo, it’s perfect.”
—Manuela Tossi, resident

Two capacious covered terraces hug the house from opposite ends, and they meet to form a central courtyard that is open to breezes from every direction. “Even though we don’t see much of the seasons changing in Brazil, we do notice the transitions here in the middle of the woods,” Manuela says. “In autumn, we see trees shed their leaves. In spring, the pool fills with yellow flowers floating in the water.”

“We don’t hang many things on the walls because we like the texture of the wood so much.”
—Filipe Almendary, resident

Manuela and Filipe’s home evokes the sleek, horizontal, low-lying geometry of Mies van der Rohe’s residential projects and the industrial nonchalance of California’s Case Study houses, but with the warmest of touches. The CLT structure is exposed throughout, and the material expresses the cool austerity of the shapes and contours while setting them ablaze with a golden finish.

Luciano Andrades, a partner at Mapa, is quick to acknowledge the nods to the modernist tropes and geometric rigor built into the design, but he also reveals a surprising influence that echoes his clients’ initial design direction. “Some of this harks back to vernacular architecture—strategies we see in old, colonial farmhouses,” says the architect.

One such strategy the designers looked to was the creation of extensive terraces that would make level platforms not just for the house but also for verandas around it. Here, the prefabricated structure is anchored by concrete pillars sunk into the ground, and it cantilevers out, as if weightless, over a stone retaining wall that cuts into the hillside to create a small plateau.

The locally sourced pedra bolão stone set against the light wood creates a sharp contrast between two natural materials, one rough and the other refined. “It’s austere, not hostile,” says Manuela. “That really is the nature of the project. The choice of materials and the modular design create very cozy spaces.”

Although the house is embedded in a wild setting, it is precisely crafted. Andrades says that the CLT allows for a more delicate structure, with walls one-third the thickness of concrete or brick divisions more common in the area. “It’s an interesting system because it’s lightweight and easy to build,” he says. “We’ve been delighted with it recently.”

At the same time, the structure’s pieces must fit together so smoothly that there’s little room for error in its design. It’s a machine made for living, and it hums in tune with the rhythms of nature all around.

Project Credits:

Architecture: Mapa Architects and Barra Arquitetos

Structural Engineering: Carpinteria

Timber Structure: Crosslam Brasil

Metal Furniture: Safra Metalúrgica

Foundations: Studiobim Engenharia

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A Set Designer’s House in Brazil Blends Colonial Architecture With Miesian Modernism