Terra House

Terra House
© Luisa Lage

TERRA HOUSE

Tetro Arquitetura

ARCHITECTS IN CHARGE
Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes e Igor Macedo

CONSTRUCTION
Samel Engenharia

MANUFACTURERS
Art Ladrilhos, Metru, Top Coat, Xapuri, iluminar

CONCRETE STRUCTURE
Bicalho Rodrigues Engenharia Civil e Estrutural

COLLABORATORS
Mariana Ventura, Déborah Martins

ELECTRICAL & PLUMBING
PROALPHA Engenharia e Consultoria

PHOTOGRAPHS
Luisa Lage

AREA
287 m²

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Serra Do Cipó, Brazil

CATEGORY
Houses

Terra House is in the middle of nature, at the Serra do Cipó region, approximately 120km from the capital Belo Horizonte.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage

With practically a flat topography, the land has several mastic trees - which in the winter lose their leaves and, in the summer, keep their green crowns - and has borders, on one side, with an environmental protection area that has an extensive native forest.

After the first visit to the place, it became clear the importance of maintaining the natural characteristics of the land and creating an intense relationship with the forest, where there will be no neighbors in the future.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage

In addition, the central part of the land, with the best environmental characteristics, should remain intact. Thus, its implementation and its concept were given as answers to this understanding.

The house was built by a young couple for use on the weekends, as they live in an apartment in the city of Belo Horizonte.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage

For this reason, one of the project's premises was to create a place of disconnection and rest, through intense contact with nature.

For that, the implantation and circulation logic was inverted. In the apartment they live in, they circulate from the social area to the intimate area in a closed corridor between two walls.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage

At the house, they can go from one place to another along a path in the garden or, in the case of rainy days, under a canopy. From this intense contact with the earth, grass and trees came to the name Soil House.

Its implementation strategy was created from questioning which parts of the land should not be occupied and what should be maintained, reversing the logic of thinking first in what to build.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage

In order to maintain all the vegetation on the ground, the program was distributed under a fluid slab that unfolds through the empty spaces between the trees.

The kitchen, which is the most important space in a weekend home, was located, along with the swimming pool, in the center of the plot.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage

The master suite is at the back, for more privacy, and the two guest bedrooms and living room are at the front of the lot.

All these spaces are facing the view of the forest and seek to intensify the body's contact with natural elements, such as the open bathroom, where it is possible to bathe under the canopy of the trees.

Terra House
© Luisa Lage


Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage
Terra House
© Luisa Lage


Terra House
Section A
Terra House
Section B


Terra House
Main Facade
Terra House
Floor Plan


Terra House
Model
Terra House
Model
Terra House
Model