Be inspired by nature!
The humid forest of Brazil’s Costa Verde is the setting for this unusual small house. Nicknamed“Arca” (“Ark”) by the locals for
its resemblance to an overturned vessel, the arched house was built as a getaway by architect Marko Brajovic. He designed it
as a place where small groups could go to relax or to work while inspired by nature.
Wanting to minimize site disturbance, the architect started with a prefabricated metal building
typically used for storage or industrial purposes.
This particular building was designed to be
assembled by hand, and it took only a week to complete the shell on the concrete pier foundation.
Because of the arched design of this amazing tiny home, the shell of the cabin is entirely self-
supporting, there are no support columns to impose any constraints on the interior layout. In
addition, since the end walls are non-structural, the architect could fully glaze both ends of the
cabin with a grid of aluminum-framed windows and sliding doors. This makes the openness to the
beauty of its surroundings quite lovely.
Rio de Janeiro - Brasil. 30/08/2015. Foto: Victor Affaro / Editora Globo.
Because it was designed with industrial components, the architect has warmed up the look with
Eucalyptus boards on all the interior walls.
There are two bedrooms and bathroom facilities which are partitioned off along the sides of the
781 square foot floor plan. The ‘roofs’ of these side rooms could potentially be used as sleeping
lofts as well, extending the usefulness of this tiny home. The center was left as an open living and
work space with a ceiling nearly 5 m (16′) high. When the house is being used for a working
retreat, the beds fold up into couches so the bedrooms can become office spaces or breakout
rooms.
A-frames, arched buildings and similar structures where the roof comes down to the ground on
both sides often suffer from a cave or tunnel effect from having large windows on the ends and few
if any on the sides. Here the architect avoided that by keeping the end-to-end of the cabin distance
shorter than the width. It would be cheaper to get the same floor area in a shell that is longer and
narrower, due to the reduced span, but that wouldn’t make for as livable a home.
The building doesn’t appear to have insulation, however the manufacturer claims that the
Galvalume panels (alloy coated sheet steel) are very effective at reflecting the sun’s heat. The floor
is raised above the ground, allowing breezes to flow both under and through the tiny house. A pair
of wind-driven roof turbine vents also pull out hot air. This is a magical tiny home and one that
would really be a beautiful nature retreat.
