GAD Editorial · Published · · English study · Chinese summary · Study dated 2026-10-04
A horizontal house in a forest can look like a simple contrast between geometry and vegetation. The section usually tells a more demanding story. It shows where daily activities sit, how the building meets uneven ground and which relationships depend on a change of level. Studio MK27’s Paraty House and Jungle House offer a focused comparison because a shared architectural vocabulary supports different arrangements of domestic life.
Paraty separates programmes through stacked volumes
The practice dates Paraty House’s completion to May 2009. Its project account places collective and utility spaces in the lower concrete volume, with suites in the upper volume. A glazed connecting level reveals a column and the vertical circulation. The architects describe the approach from the beach, where vegetation delays the building’s appearance. Studio MK27’s Paraty record
These facts suggest two drawings rather than one defining photograph. A section should distinguish the inhabited volumes and their connection. An approach diagram should record the sequence in which the house becomes visible. The relationship to landscape involves both placement and perception; the forest is not simply a green backdrop applied to an otherwise self-contained object.
Our reading is that the stacked programme gives the house a clear domestic hierarchy. Shared activity and sleeping space can occupy different positions without abandoning a compact overall composition. That interpretation does not establish how particular residents use the house, or whether every route offers equivalent privacy and accessibility. Those questions need more detailed evidence than the published summary supplies.
Jungle House begins with a topographical section
Completed in September 2015, Jungle House occupies a previously existing clearing in Guarujá’s Atlantic Forest. Studio MK27 states that the transverse section was an early design instrument: it helped accommodate a pool partly within the roof slab while retaining space below. The living-room floor was set 27 centimetres below the outdoor deck to reduce the apparent height of the upper volume. Studio MK27’s Jungle record
This small level difference provides a precise point of comparison. The external proportion is not produced only by choosing a thin-looking facade. It is coordinated with the internal floor position and adjacent outdoor surface. A section can reveal that dependence more clearly than an elevation. The pool likewise belongs to the organisation of occupied space above and below it, rather than being treated solely as a rooftop amenity.
The two houses consequently ask different questions of stacking. At Paraty, the official account makes the separation of shared rooms and suites explicit. At Jungle House, it foregrounds how the section negotiates terrain, a pool and an upper living space. Similar horizontal outlines do not make those domestic arrangements equivalent.
Use comparison to expose the missing information
For a desk study, redraw one documented cross-section from each project at the same scale. Identify shared rooms, private rooms, circulation, exterior decks and the ground line. Keep unverified spaces unlabelled. Next, draw an ordinary journey from arrival to a shared room and onward to a sleeping area, marking every change of level supported by the published drawings.
The exercise should produce questions as well as a diagram. Where does the structure touch the ground? Which view depends on a raised position? What drainage, maintenance or step-free access information is missing? Forest proximity and elevated volumes alone do not demonstrate minimal ecological disturbance or environmental performance.
Start with the Paraty House and Jungle House project records. Their comparative lesson is to make programme, ground and level changes explain the architectural outline, rather than allowing the outline to stand in for the house’s whole design.