Brazilian studio Atelier Branco has completed a glass house among a rainforest in São Paulo with a rooftop terrace for the resident "to read and smoke a cigar looking at the stars".
Photograph by Gleeson Paulino
The local architecture practice designed Casa Bibilioteca, which translates as Library House, in São Paulo's Vinhedo municipality. It was created for a philosopher, who wanted a private space to read and think.
Photograph by Jaqueline Lessa
"It is a little Library House for a 75-year-old philosopher, whose dream was to read and smoke a cigar looking at the stars from the top of the trees," said Atelier Branco.
Photography by Gleeson Paulino
Located on a sloped site in the Atlantic Rainforest ? a forest that runs along the Atlantic coast South America ? it features a thick concrete roof that forms the base of a large terrace.
Wooden boards are laid in diagonal patterns to mark the deck, with a pool of water running around the perimeter.

"We managed to create a 200-square-metre terrace to enjoy nature in the middle of the Atlantic Rainforest," said the studio.
In-situ concrete that was cast in a single working day forms the main structure of the house, including the roof, the stepped foundation and columns. Concrete steps also flank either side of the property to lead up to the rooftop.

Huge glass walls with slender steel frames span between the roof and the base to provide forest vistas from inside the house.
Casa Bibilioteca is arr...