Xingu house // TETRO ARQUITETURA

Text description provided by the architects.

This work, located in Nova Lima – a Brazilian city in the state of Minas Gerais, is now under construction. It is inserted in a huge and complex 8.000 square meters land, with stone walls remaining from an old construction, native forest, grassy plateaus and spectacular views of the mountains.

There is also a grotto, which will be incorporated into the new building program.
The project is the result of an extensive research on design that sough a response to all of these site characteristics. The new elements were implemented as shiny pieces that contrast with the rusticity of the walls and existing nature on the grounds.

Nature incorporates itself into the house in a poetic way, through the dilution of the boundaries between interior and exterior.
The starting point for this response was the search for the best view and the desire to intensify the resident’s contact with nature. With that in mind, the concept of the house was developed in such a way that the main volume is implanted right above the level of the stone walls and the program is distributed throughout three sector, or “tips”.

The sector where two main suites are located is elevated 6 meters relative to the natural level of the land and is where one can have a panoramic view of the mountains. The other two “tips” are supported on a plateau formed by the old stone walls and contemplate the guest rooms, the office, the kitchen and all of the internal social area of the house, which maintain contact and have direct access to the upper portion of the site.
The house, with its unique shape, embraces the back portion of the grounds and its dense vegetation.

It is in this forest where the spa is located. The spa was designed to be a separate volume, independent from the house and its shape occupies the empty spaces between trees, avoiding suppression. In it are found a sauna, the spa, changing rooms, a resting area and a gym..