Excerpt: Lua House by Tetro Arquitetura is conceived from the relationship with the view, on a steeply sloping site oriented toward the Serra do Curral and the city’s horizon. The residence is organized in four stacked levels, each functioning as an urban belvedere. The structure is central, with an upper block resting on branching concrete columns and wrapped by a metallic brise-soleil, lightly touching the ground and framing daily life through landscape and light.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] The Lua House is located in Belo Horizonte, on a steeply sloping site oriented toward the Serra do Curral and the city’s horizon. The relationship with the view was a defining factor in the project’s conception, leading to a house organized in four stacked levels, each one functioning as an urban belvedere.
Access is through the street level, where a glazed space acts as a pause within the dense fabric of the neighborhood, immediately revealing the amplitude of the landscape. This atrium articulates the vertical circulation and connects to the upper block, dedicated to the private areas with the master suite and bedrooms. On this same level, two additional rooms complete the family program.
The social areas are located one floor below. Living and kitchen spaces extend outwards to the deck and pool, creating a continuous relationship between interior and exterior. The lowest floor houses service areas and an office, more reserved yet still in dialogue with the view.
Structure plays a central role in the project’s identity. The upper block rests on four branching concrete columns that evoke trees, suggesting the building lightly touches the ground. This volume is clad with a metallic brise-soleil, appearing as a dense and monolithic body from the outside, while internally it filters light and projects shifting shadows throughout the day.
The residents’ fascination with the moon, which rises behind the mountains, adds a symbolic layer to the architecture. The house’s orientation allows this phenomenon to become part of daily life, transforming the view into lived experience. The Lua House, therefore, responds to the site’s urban and topographic conditions while also incorporating the gaze and admiration of its inhabitants.
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