House on a estate at the foothill of Serra da Moeda (Minas Gerais, Brazil). It has three bedrooms and is, in a nutshell, a swimming pool on the terrace and a staircase leading to that terrace. The rooms are sheltered under the swimming pool (see also our Aalborg Acqua Center project) and overlook the mountains and the savannah of twisted trees. What determines the shape of the house are the ramps and the ladder to the suspended pool, which also serves as gazebo, terrace, and roof slab. The north and west facades are protected from the sun by wooden louvers.

At the same time that it seeks to explore the plasticity of basic architectural elements, the project exalts an undervalued and threatened biome: the cerrado. The house sits on the landscape as found, whose immensity can be best seen from the pool.

Photos: Gabriel Castro, Leonardo Finotti