Casa Igarapé | Itatiaiuçu, Minas Gerais, Brazil | 2021
[Leandro Britto]
House Igarapé is a project born from the necessity to value a home in its local context. Located next to the iron ore mines of Serra de Igarapé, it uses elements of local vernacular architecture and modern Brazilian design. The house is an exploration of ancestral building methods, culture, and sustainability.
The house is a combined bedroom and living room, kitchen and bathroom. The social area was transferred to the outside, where the living spaces are. The balcony that surrounds the house gained hammocks along its entire length, so that its occupation takes place according to the insolation and the needs of guests.
The house structure has a symmetry and organicity inspired by nature. The butterfly roof design solution facilitates water storage and thermal insulation. Placed on a north/south axis, with the roof fully exposed to the sun for a full use of solar panels, the house has an on-grid power system.
On the front facade a traditional Brazilian brick called Cobogó was used to filter the strong tropical sunlight. The west façade is composed of a system of exterior curtains used mostly in the summer, since during winter the afternoon light warms the house pleasantly.
The raw and elementary materials such as straw, earth, ceramic, stone, wood and steel are used for their functional roles, not as covering layers.
The use of clay, mud and bamboo walls that cool the spaces are a nod to indigenous building techniques, and the local red earth influences the color palette of all the other elements of the house. Text description by the architect.
Source: Leandro Britto
Photography by: Leandro Britto
