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In Cabanillas, a village in the Madrid’s Guadarrama Mountains, there is a plot surrounded by high walls that enclosed a courtyard with several walnut trees and some farm warehouses and stables for animals. All of them are built with stone and mortar, Worden structures and tile roofs keeping the intimate atmosphere of a former agricultural activity.

The refurbishment has to be executed consolidating some aspects and eliminating others in order to preserve the main values of the original construction. It doesn’t forget the texture of the walls, the colour of the old mortar, the simplicity of the ancient construction methods, and therefore bring out the scale and volume of the buildings. The project’s objective is to be receptive to what the walls and the materials tell. But the structure is completely replaced with laminated timber and windows are opened, enlarged or even closed in orther to provide new uses or views. The gentle slope of the garden reaches every corner of the plot and it is organised with enormous stone paths and planted with original trees and new plants. New elements emphasize the intervention, as the gallery, “bubble” we called, an in-between glazed area, or the small front porch, which along the main bedroom window are protected by a wooden lattice, and the swimming pool that tries to be only a mass of water rounded by stone walls.

The owners of the complex, very sensitive to all these values, mantain a close dialogue with the architects, looking for better ideas and the most appropriate solutions.