Located in a residential neighborhood in Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Casa de Linho, designed by the Brazilian architecture firm TETRO, is a compelling study in architectural narrative and material expression. Completed in 2024, the 1300-square-meter residence occupies a 3650-square-meter plot and was designed for a fashion designer whose daily practice with textiles and sewing deeply informed the architectural concept. The house operates not merely as a place of dwelling but as a spatial translation of the resident’s creative process, blending tectonic clarity with poetic abstraction.
Casa de Linho Technical Information
- Architects1-16: TETRO Architecture
- Location: Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Gross Area: 1,300 m2 | 13,990 Sq. Ft.
- Completion Year: 2024
- Photographs: © Luisa Lage
The most striking element of the project is the curved reinforced concrete roof, molded in two directions, evoking the poetic image of a white cloth stretched on a clothesline.
– TETRO Architects
Casa de Linho Photographs
Spatial Composition and Programmatic Hierarchy
The house is organized into two primary volumes, each distinct in material and spatial function. The upper floor features the social and communal spaces, including living and dining areas, an integrated kitchen, a gourmet space, and a leisure zone that includes a pool and spa. These elements are unified beneath a sweeping concrete roof, a key architectural feature that defines both the form and experiential character of the house. This level privileges openness and continuity, reinforcing the client’s active social life while maintaining a domestic scale.
In contrast, the lower floor is embedded into the site and houses private functions, including bedrooms, bathrooms, a gym, and service areas. This level, articulated with a different material logic, serves as the structural and conceptual counterpoint to the expressive roof above. The vertical zoning not only ensures privacy but also facilitates thermal efficiency by situating the more insulated, inward-facing spaces within the earth.
Circulation between levels is carefully choreographed to emphasize the distinction between the public and private domains. Movement through the house is sequential and layered, offering varied spatial experiences aligned with the programmatic shifts.
Material Strategy and Structural Articulation
The most striking element of the project is the curved reinforced concrete roof, molded along two axes. Its form alludes to a piece of white fabric suspended in the air, subtly referencing the client’s textile background. The use of concrete in such an expressive manner challenges conventional notions of mass and weight, offering instead a sense of levitation and fluidity. The roof becomes a sculptural gesture, one that is simultaneously grounded in structural logic and liberated through its form.
Beneath the roof, the rest of the upper volume is rendered in a subdued material palette that enhances the impression of lightness. In contrast, the lower volume is clad in slate, a material chosen for its mineral density and its ability to anchor the house to the terrain visually. The juxtaposition of these materials generates a compelling dialogue between the tectonic and the ephemeral.
Material transitions are further emphasized by the detailing of thresholds, fenestration, and the use of brise-soleils and skylights that modulate light throughout the day. The lighting design by Iluminar enhances these spatial nuances, supporting both functional and atmospheric conditions.
Site, Landscape, and Cultural Context
The house responds directly to its sloped topography, integrating with the site rather than dominating it. The decision to embed the private level into the landscape not only addresses issues of privacy and climate control but also enables a more respectful relationship with the natural terrain. This approach aligns with a broader Brazilian tradition of engaging with topography as an active design element rather than a constraint.
Landscape architecture by Flávia Durso reinforces this attitude, weaving native vegetation into the project’s spatial fabric. The outdoor areas are not merely residual spaces, but essential extensions of the house, creating continuity between the built form and the environment.
In a broader cultural context, Casa de Linho can be read as a continuation of modernist legacies in Brazilian architecture, where material honesty and formal clarity are paired with sensuous spatial qualities. However, the project also transcends these precedents through its deeply personal conceptual basis. It is a house that not only functions but also speaks, embodying the rhythms and textures of its inhabitants’ lives.
Casa de Linho Plans
Casa de Linho Image Gallery
About TETRO Architecture
TETRO Arquitetura is a Brazilian architecture studio based in Belo Horizonte, founded by Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes, and Igor Macedo. The firm is recognized for its rigorous, site-responsive designs that seamlessly combine structural clarity with a poetic engagement with the surrounding environment. Working across residential, cultural, and institutional projects, TETRO draws on natural materials and carefully articulated voids to create architecture that is simultaneously rooted in landscape and informed by lived experience. Their work, including Casa de Linho and Xingu House, reflects a commitment to forging meaningful dialogues between program, context, and material expression.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Responsible Architects: Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes, Igor Macedo
- Contributors: Bruno Bontempo, Bianca Carvalho, Luisa Lage, Pedro Martins, Bruna Maciel, Saulo Saraiva, Marcia Aline, Thiago Perolli
- Structure: Cálculo Concreto
- Hydraulic and Electrical: CA Engenharia
- Lighting Design: Iluminar
- Construction Company: APO
- Windows, Skylights, and Brise-Soleils: Alumonte
- Cladding, Finishing, Floors, and Countertops: DMK
- Wooden Flooring: Indusparquet
- Kitchen Woodwork: Lidea
- Additional Woodwork: Top Móveis
- Air Conditioning: GMC
- Automation Systems: Som Digital
- Pool Installation: Bom Calor
- Furnishings: 31 Mobiliário, Jader Almeida
- Landscape Design: Flávia Durso
