In an area of 53.24 hectares, only 65,000 square meters are not covered by the lush native intact forest that is permanently protected. In this area of accidented topography, where large stones are surrounded by Araucaria trees, a small valley was chosen, protected from the winds and close to the forest. This is where the natural walking paths cross: the site where people who arrive at the plot of land go to, access to the paths leading to the heart of the forest and to the top of the hill where one sees an impressive view.
Designed by Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz Arquitetos, suspended above the valley and merging into the hills, the house becomes the land and the land becomes the house, creating a new landscape. The built-up empty spaces, simultaneously inside and outside, allow us to see, under the grid, stones and garden the native forest, the surrounding trees and the supporting stones, where the house is immersed.
A structural grid in wood, with 5.5×5.5x3m modules, suspended above this nucleus for accesses, connects the existing paths and creates new ones. Thus, one may cross the bridge structure in three different ways: from above (the roof garden, which is a projection of the plot), from beneath (crossing a garden with water mirror and natural stones) and going via the middle of the house (crossing an external covered area). This grid has modules, some of which are taken up by closed environments; other ones are totally empty, allowing that the trees from the garden below cross the structure.
The program in the grid is made up of a nucleus, with washing area, social area, guest room and the owner’s apartment, and three isolate modules, with two bedrooms each, for the children. Among these, the empty modules highlight the structural continuity and enhance the empty spaces where the garden can be seen. This empty and closed spaces game provides a fragmented organization of the program, protecting the privacy of the users and, at the same time, enabling an understanding of the building set as a cohesive unit.
