Guapuruvus House

This summer house is as an interesting laboratory for ecological practices in architecture, engineering and landscaping. The idea behind this house is to bring adventure to family life, allowing great contact with nature, especially for children. The motto was to create a modern cabin “in the woods” that allows parents to “camp” with their daughters on the weekends.

The land consists of native forest and more than 70% of its extension has been preserved. For the suppression area, the region with the least vegetation was chosen, in a location that had already received previous intervention. The adoption of the elevated house, as well as the creation of a service floor “embedded” in the topography, is based on the analysis of the natural profile.

The project can be divided into two very distinct stages. The first stage, comprising the entire basement of the house which includes retaining walls, laundry room, storage room, solarium and swimming pool, was designed using traditional techniques in structural block masonry, stone masonry and exposed concrete walls. The second stage, the main house, was designed using prefabrication and assembly systems, such as the use of glued laminated timber (glulam) beams and nailed laminated timber (NLT) slabs. For the external and internal walls, the light steel framing system was adopted.

The landscaping project was very important in this work because, after the implementation of the architectural project, it helped to reconstitute the suppressed native forest in the house surroundings, allowing greater connection between the house and the forest.