Oliveira’s philosophy follows the Japanese-inspired “five I’s” of naturalistic design: inexplicable, imperfect, intuitive, intriguing, and imprevisível (unpredictable). Rather than decorate, the garden expresses the spontaneity of the forest, palms, philodendrons, marantas, and bromeliads mingling with native trees, dense groundcover, and volcanic stone. At times the garden narrows into shaded trails, at others it opens into sunlit clearings and social terraces. The pool bends with the contours of the land, blurring the threshold between house and hillside, while vegetation climbs stone walls to let the building appear as if it was grown from the terrain.
