Project Name: Tangram House

Location: Lagoa Santa, Brazil

Design Team: TETRO Arquitetura

Total Floor Area: 1,450 m²

Completion: 2025

Photography: Manuel Sá

Design Features: Tangram House, designed by TETRO Arquitetura, stands as a masterful expression of how geometric precision can create fluid connections between architecture and landscape while constructing distinct spatial experiences, nestled on a gently sloping lakeside plot in Lagoa Santa within the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. This 1,450-square-meter residence exemplifies the perfect balance between distinctive triangular roof structure and sophisticated spatial organization strategy, redefining spatial possibilities for lakeside residential architecture.

The project's most compelling design achievement lies in its triangular geometric language inspired by the ancient Chinese tangram puzzle. This geometric motif manifests most prominently in the laminated wooden roof, where a series of triangular planes creates a dynamic canopy that serves multiple functions: shielding the interior from street exposure while opening generously toward the lake. The roof structure functions as a large shelter, protecting the home's intimacy from the street and opening completely towards the water. Light enters through skylights that cut through the sky and illuminate the living areas and circulation of the upper floor. The result is a dwelling that feels simultaneously modest and dramatic, appearing from the street as a subtle horizontal line that nearly dissolves into the horizon, while internally revealing a complete opening towards the water and vegetation.

The architectural narrative unfolds through sophisticated structural system, demonstrating remarkable constructional clarity. The mixed structural system combines the lightness of laminated wooden roofs and balconies with the solidity of concrete slabs and walls, dialoguing with the stone retaining walls that contain the slope of the land. This constructional approach creates a residence that feels both substantial and light, anchored yet open. Part of the lower level program fits into the retaining wall itself, where there are a support kitchen, bathroom, and wine cellar, creating a habitable thickness between the house and the earth.

Spatial organization follows a clear vertical hierarchy. The lower level concentrates all social spaces: living room, kitchen, gourmet area, wine cellar, and swimming pool, all facing the lake through large glass panels and generous balconies. On this floor, the contact with the landscape is direct: the water of the pool seems to extend the mirror of the lake, and the interior extends to the exterior without clear boundaries. The upper level's intimate wing gathers a living area and five bedrooms: the master suite, two children's rooms, and two guest rooms. All spaces open to the view, protected by the large eaves of the roof and the distance from the street.

The façade treatment demonstrates the refinement of strategic visual control. From the street, the house maintains a low profile, with walls, slopes, and the built volume itself forming a visual barrier to the outside. This deliberate modesty conceals the dramatic lakeside orientation within. Upon entering, the street disappears completely: from inside the house, only trees, the lawn, and water are visible. Everyday life always occurs framed by nature, never by urban traffic.

The project's defining feature is its creative response to site conditions and high-quality building practices. Through positioning the house at the highest point of the lot, the design ensures optimal landscape views and privacy. The geometric composition extends beyond aesthetics, structuring how light, views, and spatial experiences unfold throughout the residence. The careful design of the structural system allows for large-span open spaces and generous cantilevers, reinforcing visual and physical continuity between interior and exterior. Tangram House proves that thoughtful design can transform geometric precision into architectural poetry, creating responsive residential architecture to site and climate without sacrificing spatial quality, constructional clarity, or residential comfort. Between the precise design of the structure and the softness of the landscape, the house seeks to be less of an object and more of a passage: a house that protects itself from the movement of the street to fully open up to the lake and vegetation, where the line of the construction extends the line of the horizon and the triangle of the roof unfolds as a gesture of welcome to nature.

Design Team: TETRO Arquitetura, founded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, operates as a globally engaged architectural practice led by principals Carlos Maia, Débora Mendes, and Igor Macedo. The firm's methodology centers on rigorous site analysis and client-specific programming, producing singular architectural responses that resist replication. This approach has earned the studio significant international recognition, including third place in Architizer's "30 Best Architecture Firms in Brazil" and inclusion in Architectural Digest's prestigious AD100 2023 list.

Under the creative direction of Maia, Mendes, and Macedo, the firm leads a dynamic multidisciplinary team including architects Bianca Carvalho, Bruno Bontempo, Bruna Maciel, Saulo Saraiva, Carolina Amaral, Ana Flávia Corrêa, Sabrina Freitas, Márcia Aline, Matheus Rosendo, and Luisa Lage serving as project team members for Tangram House. Their collaborative approach balances the personalized attention of a boutique office with the professional rigor of comprehensive practice.

The firm's design philosophy draws from the legacy of Brazilian modernist architecture while advancing its principles through contemporary innovation. Core tenets include seamless integration with natural landscapes, honest expression of materials in their inherent states, and strategic manipulation of void spaces to structure spatial experiences. These fundamentals manifest consistently across the portfolio, creating a coherent architectural language that responds to diverse programmatic and contextual conditions. The office's professional practice is based on the careful study of the premises and conditions presented by the location and the client, always seeking for a unique and irreplicable solution to each project.

The firm's professional achievements demonstrate sustained excellence across multiple platforms. Notable accolades include the World Design Awards 2023 for Private Residential Built, Architizer A+Awards 2023, and multiple recognitions at the Golden Trezzini Awards in 2021, 2022, and 2023. TETRO represented Brazilian architecture at La Biennale di Venezia in both 2021 and 2023, affirming its position within international architectural discourse. The practice received a Silver Winner distinction in the Architecture & Design Collection Awards 2023, top recognition in the World Architecture Community's 43rd and 44th cycles in 2023, as well as Loop Design Awards 2022 and Idea-Tops International Space Design Awards Global Top 5 in 2022, among numerous other honors. Under the continued leadership of founding principals, TETRO maintains its foundational principles of simplicity, material authenticity, and meaningful architecture while advancing contemporary architectural innovation, through systematic exploration of site-specific conditions continuing to advance architectural solutions that honor modernist tradition while addressing contemporary spatial, environmental, and experiential challenges.