Casa Box is the caretaker's house of a summer property on Santa Tereza hill, in Ilhabela, 100 metres above sea level. Set beside two enormous rocks, at one of the main entrances and very exposed to the street, the house needed to be simple but elegant, appreciated by passers-by without compromising the privacy of those who live there.
The sloping terrain guided the concept. A white box of 3 × 5 metres, holding the bedroom, rests on one side on an existing retaining wall and on the other on a wall built with local stone. From it one sees the continent and the São Sebastião Channel. Below, at street level, are the living room, kitchen and bathroom.
This gesture shapes the spaces around it: an access yard that curves with the driveway, a courtyard between the box and the rock, and the void beneath the box, where life happens.
Materials were chosen for availability, cost and ease of construction. The wood of doors, windows, staircase and furniture was reused from the scaffolding and formwork of the concrete box.

Honourable mention at the 8th São Paulo International Architecture Biennale, 2009.