Project Name: Seriema House

Location: Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Design Team: TETRO Arquitetura

Total Floor Area: 350 m²

Completion: 2025

Photography: Luisa Lage

Feature:

Project - TETRO Arquitetura has completed their latest masterpiece - Seriema House, situated in a bucolic refuge on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. To access the residence, visitors must cross a mountain range, a journey that marks a transition. Leaving behind urban noise, one enters a serene environment fully integrated with nature.

The design team created a 350-square-meter dwelling positioned between two distinct landscapes: on one side, a wide, open view of mountains; on the other, a dense forest full of trees. In this balance between expansive vistas and shaded refuge, the house fits harmoniously. Seriemas, birds typical to the region that roam freely around the property, inspired the residence's name.

The project's most distinctive feature is its poetic, winding wall covered in black stone, which divides the house into two worlds. On one side lies the welcoming space: bright, filled with sounds, music, and movement, with open mountain views. On the other, the retreat space: silent, introspective, immersed in forest shadows, dedicated to rest and reading.

Materiality reinforces the connection with the landscape. The sinuous black stone wall creates a dramatic contrast with the white stone flooring. Conceived as more than a home, the house was designed as a space for pause—a place to read, rest, contemplate the landscape, and share moments with friends. Seriema House embodies time, river, mountain, and cave. It is, above all, poetry in architectural form.

Design Team - Founded in 2001, TETRO Arquitetura is an architectural practice based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, working globally under the leadership of architects Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes, and Igor Macedo. The studio focuses on reinterpreting Brazilian modernist traditions through innovative design approaches that reimagine the relationship between architecture and nature.

The practice's methodology is anchored in rigorous research of site conditions and client requirements, seeking unique and irreplicable solutions for each project. Their design language features integration with natural surroundings, the expressive use of raw materials, and sophisticated exploration of spatial voids. The team takes Brazilian modern architecture as a starting point, rethinking its core concepts to provide innovative responses to contemporary architectural challenges.

TETRO's multidisciplinary team develops projects across various typologies, including residential, commercial buildings, schools, hospitals, and museums. Their work has received numerous international recognitions, including the Architizer A+Awards, World Design Awards, and Architecture & Design Collection Awards, alongside inclusion in Architectural Digest's AD100 list. The firm ranks among the top 10 in Architizer's "25 Best Architecture Firms in Brazil" and has participated in the Venice Biennale in both 2021 and 2023.

TETRO Arquitetura's design philosophy combines technical excellence with cultural heritage values, creating works that embody Brazilian architectural spirit with global relevance. Their residential projects, such as Seriema House, demonstrate a profound understanding of natural context and a unique ability to express architectural poetry through spatial composition.