Minimalist prefab home blends into forest with dark exterior and green roof

MAPA, the Brazilian and Uruguayan architecture firm known for its prefab modular homes, is up to its old tricks. Which is to say, the team designed yet another stylish MiniMod house and tucked it deep into the wilderness.

The Curucaca MiniMod sits surrounded by trees in the Curucaca forest in southern Brazil. The compact house was built on short stilts to help it balance on the sloping plot of land. Its rectilinear shape has two large windows that create a sightline from one side of the house to the other.

Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Photo: Leonardo Finotti

MAPA constructed the house from cross-laminated timber. Inside, the knotty timber walls give the otherwise sparse design a warm, rustic vibe. According to the designers, the home is intentionally minimalist.

“It presents itself as a primitive retreat with a contemporary reinterpretation, which more than an object aims to become an every-remote-landscape experience,” MAPA told Dezeen.

Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Outside, the home’s facade is finished with dark stain to help it blend into the surrounding forest. To aid the cause even more, MAPA designed the house with a green roof, which when viewed from above looks like a grassy clearing in the forest.

Photo: Leonardo Finotti