Casa Macieiras was projected in 2021 to integrate with the southern part of Belo Horizonte’s expansion and the various condominiums in Nova Lima. It should have been a small, helpful space integrated with nature. To have the ease of being close to the center of the state capital, they wanted a quiet and cozy home.

Macieiras House’s Design Concept:

The placement of the house was governed by two legal requirements: first, to respect the servitude area of a Cemig high-voltage power line—an area which, by law, cannot be covered—it left only 21 meters from the sidewalk to the beginning of the restricted strip; second, to respect the suppression of trees approved by the State Secretariat of Environment of Minas Gerais for construction on this lot.

Wood was predominantly used in the house for fast construction. It was used in the prefabricated main element, second-floor structure, external wall structure of dry areas, and beams in the roof, which define the pattern of the openings. Besides its contribution to construction speed, wood adds a sense of coziness to the environment; therefore, it is also an excellent thermal insulator, helping not to let the temperature inside a house become too high during hot days or extremely cold in the winter.

The house was designed with a reinforced concrete first floor and a prefabricated wooden second floor. Only the wet areas and the view tower for the water tank were covered with reinforced concrete and masonry block sealing. This sped up the construction process to reduce waste. A precast reinforced concrete system made the main floor slab with expanded polystyrene fillings.
It has a roof with two large sloping surfaces of different pitches clad with thermoacoustic trapezoidal tiles. The design of the social area corresponds to a higher level than the private spaces, allowing incidentally the inlet of natural light coming from skylights that improve the relationship between these levels. In this way, the principal benefit of the solution is that the interior keeps itself well-lit during the day.

In the sleeping part, the wet zones trace the rhythm of the façade and have different materials. The materials used visibly define the intimate and social space: more enclosed and secluded, the intimate area secures family privacy. In contrast, the more open social part lets in the views from the main street and merges with nature and the big garden that stretches from the veranda. To the south lies the social area facade, with the calmest and most vegetated part of the lot, which makes it possible to have large windows. It is protected by eaves that extend 2 meters over a comfortable veranda, making up a family meeting space closely related to nature and providing a view of the Atlantic Forest preserved on the site.
Casa Macieiras is located in the condominium Ouro Velho Mansões, which is one of the oldest condominiums in Nova Lima. Conceived in the 1970s, this condominium adjoins Mata do Jambreiro and includes MarCCA in its very wide and rich variety of fauna and flora.The well-preserved area of 912 hectares is located just 30 minutes from central Belo Horizonte.

Project Info:

• Architects: Mateus Castilho, Patricia Bueno
• Country: Nova Lima, Brazil
• Area: 280 m²
• Year: 2021
• Photographs: Ronaldo Melo

• Manufacturers:  Calhas e coifas, Deca, Le form creative, Pedras paraná, Strutturare, Templuz, VM vidros e esquadrias de aluminio