Tree Snake Houses / Luís Rebelo De Andrade + Tiago Rebelo De Andrade

Architects: Luís Rebelo de Andrade, Tiago Rebelo de Andrade
Area: 27 m²
Year: 2012
Photography: Fernando Guerra
Collaborators: Madalena Rebelo de Andrade, Raquel Jorge, Pedro Baptista Dias
Contractor: Modular System
Client: UNICER
Location: Bornes de Aguiar, Vila Pouca de Aguiar
Country: Portugal

Tree Snake Houses were developed by architects Luís Rebelo de Andrade and Tiago Rebelo de Andrade of Rebelo de Andrade Studio in connection with the Pedras Salgadas Park project, to translate the fantasy of a tree house into a contemporary, lightweight architectural object. Developed in partnership with Modular System, the project deliberately moves away from the orthogonality and established visual language commonly associated with modular construction. Slate and wood form the principal material expression, giving the houses a natural character and helping them integrate visually with the park. Each 27-square-meter house contains a studio, bathroom, and kitchen. The construction approach uses lightweight technology that allows the units to be easily carried, while the architects sought to minimise the physical presence of the intervention within the landscape. Environmental considerations informed a range of measures, including reinforced insulation, heating systems, water reuse, solar water-heating panels, low-consumption LED lighting, and the retention of permeable soil. The project was also conceived as an adaptable architectural system, with related Mountain Snake House, River Snake House, and Sand Snake House models proposed for different landscapes and climates.

The project began with a childhood dream many of us share: the desire to live in a house among the trees.

At Pedras Salgadas, we sought to recover that sense of wonder without damaging the mature trees or disturbing the park’s character. The houses were therefore raised on slender supports and shaped to pass between the trunks, adapting to the topography and existing vegetation.
Interview with Luís Rebelo de Andrade of Rebelo de Andrade Studio

Tree snake houses / rebelo de andrade studio

Tree Snake Houses emerged from the challenge of creating an object for Pedras Salgadas Park that could evoke the imaginative character of traditional tree houses without relying on a conventional cabin form. The project was developed by Luís Rebelo de Andrade and Tiago Rebelo de Andrade in partnership with Modular System, establishing a modular structure intended to sit within the park rather than compete with its established landscape. The architects approached modular construction by moving away from its typically orthogonal character and pre-established concepts. The resulting form uses a distinctive profile and a combination of slate and wood that suggests the movement of a snake through the trees. The reference to a wild animal is therefore embedded in the architecture’s visual identity, allowing the structure to appear unexpectedly within the surrounding vegetation.

The material strategy is closely connected to this intention. Slate and wood provide a direct relationship with the natural setting while helping the houses remain visually restrained. The architects sought an integration in which the buildings would not assume the dominant role within the park, leaving its mature landscape as the principal presence. The construction system was developed using technology that had already been tested in prototypes. Its lightweight character allows the houses to be easily carried, supporting an approach in which the architectural intervention can be introduced into the landscape with limited physical impact. The use of native raw materials for the finishing also contributes to the intended relationship between the structures and their surroundings.

Sustainability and ecology were considered throughout the development of the project. The houses incorporate layers and reinforced insulation, heating systems, water reuse, solar water-heating panels, and a low-consumption lighting system using LED technology. The decision to retain the soil without an impermeable system further limits the intervention’s impact on the ground. Each house comprises a studio with a bathroom and kitchen, concentrating the required functions within a compact 27-square-meter structure. The result combines the basic characteristics of a small dwelling with an architectural language derived from the primitive hut and the image of a wild animal, two references identified in the project’s conception.

The Tree Snake Houses were also developed as a potentially adaptable system rather than as an object restricted to one landscape. The project anticipated further versions, including the Mountain Snake House, River Snake House, and Sand Snake House, with dimensions and materials capable of being adapted to different climates and regions. The architects therefore positioned the concept as a flexible architectural proposition that could respond to coastal areas, riverbanks, mountains, or urban environments while retaining its fundamental relationship between compact construction, natural materials, and landscape integration.

The intention was not simply to place architecture in nature, but to create something quiet, flexible and almost dreamlike that could become part of the forest itself.
Interview with Tiago Rebelo de Andrade of Rebelo de Andrade Studio

At Pedras Salgadas Park, the Tree Snake Houses establish this approach through a deliberately discreet intervention. Their architectural expression draws from the surrounding environment and from the idea of the tree house, while their construction and environmental strategies support a reduced physical presence within the park.