In Brazil, a Rooftop Deck Takes a Mountain Home to New Heights

Nilma Ribeiro and her husband, Luiz Butti, are happy to live on a mountain known for its sorrows.

"When translated from the language of the native peoples, ‘Serra da Mantiqueira’ is ‘the mountain that cries,’ due to the many springs of pure water that emerge from the slopes," says Nilma. 

Back in 2013, the couple bought about 120 acres of land in southeast Brazil, far from coastal cities. "It’s in the middle of this high-altitude forest, in a mountainous region in the south of the state of Minas Gerais," Nilma says.

At the time, their land was predominantly made up of precarious slopes of araucaria trees, but the couple envisioned a retreat where they could trade in their São Paulo commitments for uninterrupted peace with their two children. "We built the first house between 2014 and 2015 with AMFB, facing all the challenges that a construction project in this location presents: logistics for the materials, heavy summer rain, and rugged terrain," she explains. 

They used this hideaway primarily on the weekends, driving 120 miles each way, until the pandemic hit and they decided to hunker down here full-time. "Once we moved here in 2020, we s​​aw that staying was possible," Nilma recalls. "It was a dream to live in this forest, where all we could hear were the birds and water running through the streams and falls."