The objective was a full renovation of an old house in a town of Spain’s Extremadura region, one with an elongated floor plan and narrow bay. The existing party walls and rough-textured facades were preserved. The program is organized in four identically sized spaces, raised around a courtyard. There is a living room, a kitchen, and two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. That there was a lack of ventilation and light in the central area much determined the layout, as did the presence of a food garden.

A deciduous tree ensures that there is shade during warm seasons, while letting the sun heat and brighten up the rooms in winter. It also serves as a visual filter between spaces. With its open plan, the ground floor can accommodate many different uses. It has no heating, nor air conditioning, but connects with the garden behind.

The building displays its pure materiality and flourishes deliberate contrasts with irregular textures of rammed earth and stone that have been whitewashed. It pursues an atmosphere where the red color of the ceramic and the intense blue of the birch wood predominate, and where it is the changing daylight that bathes these wall and floor materials in a range of nuances. The ceramic in itself has a warm tone, making paint and false ceilings unnecessary.