Designed by architect Raphael Wittmann, founder of RAWI Arquitetura, Casa Bosque is located in São Paulo, Brazil, and emerges from a deep dialogue between architecture and nature. Set within a 1,200 m² plot defined by an existing grove, the 350 m² residence was conceived for a father and his three children, guided by a concept that weaves together coexistence, comfort, and, above all, respect for the existing landscape.
The architecture organizes itself around a preserved jacaranda tree at the center of the house, which structures the central courtyard. This void becomes the project’s spatial nucleus, connecting social, private, and service areas while establishing an intrinsic relationship with the grove at the rear, of which the tree is part. A bench and a beam, cast in situ, frame the jacaranda’s outline and emphasize the structural gesture that organizes the space.
Arranged in a C-shaped plan, the house establishes a precise interplay between solids and voids, light and shadow. Three elements define its composition: a suspended volume facing the grove, the central courtyard that structures domestic life, and a pigmented concrete box marking the street-facing façade.
Influenced by modernist and brutalist architectural principles, the project expresses exposed structure, generous spans, and natural materials. The volumetric composition combines precise white geometric blocks with the reddish concrete volume of the garage, creating an expressive urban gesture. On the grove-facing side, the house opens through wide openings that frame views of the trees, dissolving the boundaries between interior and landscape. A deep cantilever on the upper floor extends the gaze toward the grove, while a wooden deck at the social level, also cantilevered, reinforces the connection with nature and creates a space for contemplation. Despite the sloping terrain, the entire ground floor remains accessible, and the deck expands this horizon.
The central courtyard enables cross-ventilation and brings northern light into the social area, compensating for the southern orientation facing the grove, which receives limited sunlight. In the bedrooms facing the grove along the southern rear façade, lateral openings oriented east and west balance daylight and allow cross-ventilation. In the double-height space, a skylight draws natural light into the interior and facilitates warm air escape.
Structure and materiality are embraced as architectural language. Exposed concrete slabs, generous ceiling heights, and ample openings draw light and ventilation into the interior, reinforcing spatial continuity and the constant dialogue between architecture and landscape.
In this way, Casa Bosque proposes an architecture that not only situates itself in the landscape but becomes part of it. The preserved tree, the central courtyard, and the suspended volumes construct a spatial experience where nature and architecture intertwine, transforming the grove into a constitutive element of the house itself.
