This modernist jungle home offers the escapism we need

The floating glass structure blurs the boundaries between inside and out, while maintaining a cosy, homely feeling.

modern house
(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

With coronavirus lockdowns happening across the world, the appetite for escapism is at an all-time high. Two creatives responded to this need for escapism by designing their dream home; a glass home in the São Paulo jungle, inspired by Brazilian modernist architecture.

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Casa Atibaia is a modernist jungle home made of glass, nestled amongst the forested banks of the Atibaia river in São Paulo.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Dreamed up by creatives Charlotte Taylor and Nicholas Préaud, the design is brought to life in this series of ultra-realistic renderings.

This is the first collaborative project between Préaud, co-founder of 3D visualisation practice Ni.acki, and Taylor, who runs Maison de Sable.

The pair took inspiration from the modernist architecture of Lina Bo Bardi, in particular her design for Casa de Vidro, which Bo Bardi designed in 1951 for herself and her husband.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Comprising a concrete and glass volume supported by slim columns, Bo Bardi's house is a striking example of Brazilian modernism – an architectural movement that both Taylor and Préaud have come to admire during their careers.

Like Bo Bardi's Casa de Vidro, the imaginary Casa Atibaia also features a white-concrete framework and expansive glass windows – but instead of using columns, Casa Atibaia is instead elevated by huge jagged boulders that jut out from the terrain below.

The entire structure is built around pre-existing rocks as natural pillars, a more brutalist take on the modernist language.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Some of the boulders propping up the home pierce through the interior.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Aside from offering a striking contrast to the smooth curves, smooth poured floors and curved glass walls, these rugged boulders are transformed into something functional too.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Inside, these rocks have been carved to incorporate bookcases, or are used as headboards or even craggy plinths for displaying vases.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

The rest of the furniture is a balance of modernist gems, antique pieces and more contemporary additions with the likes of Pierre Augustin Rose, Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Chapo.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Still, rugged elements are peppered throughout the home, further blurring the boundary between indoors and out.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

Casa Atibaia takes on a more sinuous in shape than Bo Bardi's designs, the elevated structure winding inwards to form a courtyard around a cluster of existing palm trees.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

The structure is built around existing nature without impacting it, and swallows existing trees up within openings in the home.

modern house

(Image credit: Charlotte Taylor x Nicholas Préaud)

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Lotte Brouwer

Lotte is the Digital Editor for Livingetc, and has been with the website since its launch. She has a background in online journalism and writing for SEO, with previous editor roles at Good Living, Good Housekeeping, Country & Townhouse, and BBC Good Food among others, as well as her own successful interiors blog. When she's not busy writing or tracking analytics, she's doing up houses, two of which have features in interior design magazines. She's just finished doing up her house in Wimbledon, and is eyeing up Bath for her next project.