Alan Chu's Casa Lilaya Rides an 80cm-Thick Wall Through Brazil's Cerrado

An 80cm-thick wall runs 31 metres through Casa Lilaya, working as seating, kitchen counter, shelving, entrance porch and closet before it leaves the building entirely. That single element does most of the architectural heavy lifting at Alan Chu's two-bedroom house in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil.

The site sits just north of Brasília, in a rural clearing near the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, reached by a winding dirt road. 'It sits near a river that runs through the site, immersed in the native vegetation of the Cerrado biome,' Chu said. 'The sky is vast, and the hills and plateaus fade into the horizon.'

The region trades on more than ecotourism. Local soil carries a high concentration of crystals, which has given the area a reputation among followers of holistic living. The house doesn't shout about any of it.

What does the wall actually do?

The client wanted a simple, cost-efficient country retreat. Chu, who designs from the inside out, responded with a low single-storey volume whose crisp lines extend into the landscape — and with that wall, which stretches out from the primary volume like a welcoming 'arm', guiding guests to the entrance and doubling as a cosy seating spot.

The plan divides into quadrants. 'Dividing the plan into quadrants automatically creates four distinct dimensions; I would say at least four different moments in time, without using more area to achieve this,' Chu explained. 'Each quadrant has its own orientation and its own views.'

The architect also lifted the house off the ground, a move that recalls Japanese house typologies, because the region swings between a long dry season and a rainy one. Pragmatism, dressed as proportion.

How does the house frame the landscape?

Chu scripted the arrival as a sequence: 'a drive along a winding road through the vegetation, then the first glimpse of the house, a moment of mystery and approach. Inside, each room reveals a different landscape.'

Floor-to-ceiling windows do the revealing. Inside, the palette stays monochrome and quiet — terracotta, cement, solid-wood joinery. 'The walls that extend beyond the building create a sense of movement and freedom, and at the same time they give the house a longer, more horizontal, and elegant proportion,' Chu said. 'The monochromatic palette reduces noise and the amount of information. It is a way to quiet the mind and reinforce the presence of the natural landscape.'

He's blunt about what he avoided. 'I like the harmony and coherence of the whole. Above all, I am glad to have designed a house that escapes the stereotype of the country cabin,' Chu concluded. 'It is hard to imagine it anywhere else. It was made to be there, and that is essential.'

A house on crystal-infused land that owes its power to cement, timber and one very long wall. The site provided the mysticism; the architecture supplied the restraint.