equipo de arquitectura organizes compressed earth house around native trees in paraguay

"When the phrase 'the trees prevent us from seeing the forest' is repeated, its exact meaning may not be understood. Perhaps the mockery behind the phrase backfires on the person who utters it. The trees prevent us from seeing the forest, and thanks to that, the forest exists. The mission of the visible trees is to keep the rest latent, and only when we realize that the visible landscape hides other invisible landscapes do we feel ourselves to be inside a forest."

"Inside that contour, solids and voids are distributed in response to the position of trees, replacing the conventional orthogonal grid with a more adaptive arrangement. The irregular disposition of pillars contributes to lateral stability while accommodating root systems. Solid volumes are built from compressed earth blocks, reinforcing a material continuity with the ground."

A Forest in the House is a residence in San Bernardino, Paraguay, designed by architects Horacio Cherniavsky and Viviana Pozzoli that integrates existing woodland as its primary structural framework. Rather than imposing a conventional orthogonal grid, the design allows mature trees to determine the building's geometry. Compressed earth volumes and shaded voids are inserted between tree trunks, with a fixed roof perimeter establishing intervention limits. Vertical structural elements are carefully positioned to avoid root systems while visually receding into the wooded background. The irregular pillar disposition provides lateral stability while accommodating the forest ecosystem. Compressed earth blocks reinforce material continuity with the ground, creating a design philosophy rooted in Ortega y Gasset's concept that visible trees frame what remains latent, shaping circulation, enclosure, and void.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine