The Butantã House | Between Concrete and Community: Domestic Architecture in the Work of Mendes da Rocha
- Arq. Alejandra Polanía
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
AUTHOR: Alejandra Polanía
Architect with a keen interest in architecture, landscape, and ecological restoration.
NAME OF WORK: House in Butanta
ARCHITECTS: Paulo Mendes da Rocha
PHOTOGRAPHY: Leonardo Finotti, Nelson Kon
LOCATION: São Paulo, Brazil
YEAR: 1964
SQUARE METERS: 250 m2
The Butantã House, designed by Paulo Mendes da Rocha in 1964, embodies a synthesis between concrete as a material and a social conception of domestic space. Framed within the Brazilian brutalist movement—particularly in its São Paulo iteration—this work becomes an architectural manifesto where the apparent structure, functionality, and openness to the environment dialogue with ideas of collectivity. São Paulo architecture, which emerged in São Paulo in the mid-20th century, was characterized by the expressive use of reinforced concrete (materiality), an austere aesthetic that responded to social ideals, the valorization of exposed structure, integration with the environment (urbanism), constructive efficiency (technique), and functionality.
Paulo Mendes da Rocha, one of the most emblematic architects of modern architecture in Brazil, left a legacy committed to a humanistic vision of built space. For him, architecture is not meant to be simply contemplated, but to be lived. His work is based on the idea of creating spaces for human interaction, reflection, and connection with the environment. From this perspective, Mendes da Rocha conceived architecture as an extension of the city, inseparable from collective life and the social landscape that sustains it. This raises the question of how Paulo Mendes da Rocha transfers his collective vision of architecture to the field of housing, and how his architectural proposals respond to the design principles of São Paulo architecture. To answer these questions, we will analyze Casa Butantã—one of his most representative residential works—through three fundamental axes: technical expression and materiality, the relationship between function and social dimension, and its integration with urbanism and topography. This breakdown will allow us to understand how the project translates the values of São Paulo brutalism into an intimate space without losing its public and contextual vocation.
The Casa Butantã, built in 1964, reflects Mendes da Rocha's ideal of creating architecture that promotes spaces with a public vocation, demonstrating how an architectural work can shape the way we inhabit and perceive our environment.
1. Relationship between function and social dimension:
For Paulo Mendes da Rocha, housing is a reflection of life itself, being functional, accessible, aesthetically pleasing in its simplicity, and deeply connected to the people who inhabit it. He did not conceive of it as a private refuge, but also as a form of interaction with the environment and the community.
A tour of the functionality of the Butantã house reveals a spatial layout designed with openness in mind, as from the entrance you can see a completely open house, where the only enclosure is the topography and the immediate landscape. The openness of the open-plan layout allows you to see how the space flows without fixed barriers.
On the other hand, the entrance leads directly to the common areas, where the collective social functions of the house are concentrated. These areas—the living room, study, dining room, and kitchen—are arranged in a rectangular shape along the formal perimeter without conventional divisions, reinforcing spatial continuity. (photo 3). Mendes da Rocha gives these spaces a central role, strategically locating them in areas where the landscape takes center stage, thanks to continuous openings that promote both cross ventilation and natural lighting. Likewise, a material dialogue is established between concrete and wood, which brings sobriety and warmth to the environment, subtly framing the urban landscape as a constant visual backdrop.
The rooms are arranged in a linear fashion in the central part of the house, separated by lightweight concrete panels that do not reach the ceiling, allowing air and light to circulate. This design decision not only promotes natural ventilation but also eliminates the hierarchy of enclosed spaces. Due to their central location, the bedrooms have skylights directly above each one, allowing indirect light to enter during the day.
Mendes da Rocha considers the functionality of spaces to be a fundamental principle in his architecture, which is clearly reflected in works such as: the James King House in São Paulo and the Lygia and Newton Carneiro J.R. House (1973). Here we find homes that share a similar architectural language to Butantã in terms of form and functionality, such as the concept of the open floor plan, the reinterpretation of the private and collective areas, where the latter prevails in terms of openings and contact with the outdoor landscape, reaffirming the idea that the domestic can have a public or community vocation (this can be interpreted in the way common spaces are organized). And finally, circulation. Something common in Mendes da Rocha's residential architecture is the integration of spaces through circulation, which forms a circuit without intruding on private areas, as we can see in the Butantã house. (photographs 4, 5).
2. Expression of technique and materiality:
Casa Butantã not only embodies Paulo Mendes da Rocha's ideal of creating spaces with a public vocation, but also stands out for the expressive force of its materiality and construction technique.
The house was designed as a modular structure consisting of four recessed pillars, from which two main cantilevered beams rise to form a ribbed slab. This large reinforced concrete slab is broken on two opposite sides to become vertical, thus forming an enclosure on two of its sides and extending the boundaries of the floor plan. This structural solution completely frees up the land, giving rise to a formal image that seems to float above the ground. (Photographs 6, 7).
Similarly, reinforced concrete, as the main material of the house, is exposed without coatings or finishes, highlighting its sobriety and reflecting the principles of brutalism. This choice reveals a constructive ethic that does not seek to hide the materials, but rather to expose their nature and bring it to its maximum expression. Likewise, the marks of the formwork remain visible, incorporating the construction process into the visual language of the building. (Photograph 7).
Similarly, inside the house we find this contrast in materials, as we can see in the internal partitions, which are constructed with concrete slabs only five centimeters thick. These are complemented by doors, furniture, and some wooden dividing elements, which lend a sense of lightness and warmth to the environment, in contrast to the coldness of the concrete. In this way, the difference between the permanent and the mutable can be appreciated (Photograph 5).
3. Integration with urban planning and topography.
The third item is based on the extension of the project as a public space. In this case, Casa Butantã is an example of how architecture can be critically and creatively integrated with urban planning and topography. Although it is a single-family home, its design engages deeply with the urban context and the natural relief of the terrain.
This integration can be seen in the gesture of completely freeing up the ground, which not only responds to technical criteria—such as adaptation to the sloping terrain—but also creates an empty space under the house that can be used freely, reinforcing the idea of a space with public qualities, even in the domestic sphere. In addition to generating this gesture in volume that extends towards urbanism by floating above the ground. (photograph 8).
From this elevated position, the house generates a visual relationship with the immediate landscape, establishing a direct connection with the treetops and the surrounding urban landscape in a panoramic way. (Photo 9). This privileged relationship with the environment is achieved without sacrificing privacy, thanks to the intelligent use of openings and orientation. On the other hand, by dispensing with conventional urban enclosures, the house embraces the landscape directly, allowing nature to become an active part of the immediate context and living space. (Photo 10).
Finally, the central objective of housing in Paulo Mendes da Rocha's work is to create spaces that transcend the functional, becoming settings for human interaction, reflection, and connection with the environment. His architecture deliberately moves away from superficial ornamentation, opting instead for an austere, technical aesthetic committed to social needs.
Instead of a traditional, closed, and hierarchical house, he proposes a horizontal, free, and shared space that opens up to the landscape and the urban context. In this model, the experience of living takes on greater importance than ostentatious comfort, placing the relationship between people, the environment, and the structure that links them at the center.
In this way, Paulo Mendes da Rocha offers a forceful response to São Paulo architecture, articulating his work around key principles such as materiality, function, spatial experience, integration with the environment, technique, and architectural aesthetics. Each of these aspects is manifested in his projects as a way of questioning, enriching, and redefining the language of modern architecture in São Paulo. His works not only dialogue with the values of the São Paulo movement, but also expand and deepen them, proposing an architecture that is at once radical, human, and committed to its cultural and social context.