This house designed by Estudio Albar, located on the outskirts of Madrid, manages to combine design, efficiency and sustainability in a perfect balance, using industrialized wood construction without losing the essence of a unique, exclusive and totally personalized design.
Just 20 minutes from Madrid, surrounded by the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park, stands Casa Eñe, a house with a unique and fully customized design, with maximum efficiency, sustainable and built in just six months. Designed by Estudio Albar, directed by Irene García and Daniel Lozano, this passive house of wood structure stands as a silent observer in the middle of acres of unspoiled nature.
The house is based on the client’s premise of achieving a near-zero energy house. For this reason, it was decided to certify it according to the Passive House standard, the world’s most demanding way of building in terms of energy efficiency, created 40 years ago in Germany. In this way, Casa Eñe achieves a more comfortable home with almost no energy mortgage.
Casa Eñe, with more than 250 m2 of floor space, is heated in winter only by the 3 towel radiators in the bathrooms on the first floor.
Thanks to its excellent thermal insulation and high airtightness, the house behaves like a thermos: it is able to keep warm in winter or cool in summer, using very little energy to maintain it. It is also supported by high-performance windows and doors, a design without thermal bridges, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. “The operation of passive houses is very simple”.
This investment in better performing materials increased the construction cost by 8%, or just over €35,000 in the case of Casa Eñe. Since this is a long-term investment, the payback period is 7 years at current rates and energy values. This type of home is not affected by market instability.
The result is a house built in just over six months, with a wooden structure, completely industrialized (not prefabricated), cork façade, wooden windows, oak partitions, ecological paints and continuous lime floors without joints, achieving maximum comfort and a simple and minimalist interior design for this family.
True efficiency is not in producing more and more energy, but in using as little as possible.
In designing the house, the first decision they made was to open the house to the landscape, to integrate with it and bring it into the house. “We could not ignore the beautiful surroundings of acres of rock roses and oaks,” says Irene. Therefore, they proposed a house that emerges as a large rectangular block, 40 meters long and only 6 meters wide. All the rooms of the house are continuous, with windows to the north that look out over the landscape, and large openings on the south façade that maximize sunlight. A very simple strategy that characterized the whole project.
The interior layout attempts to eliminate any unnecessary corridors or circulation. “Walking through the house is like walking through the environment,” he explains. The interior design reflects the philosophy of Estudio Albar, with a serene, simple and minimalist approach, just like the building.
“Our way of decorating and designing go hand in hand. We don’t like artificiality or superfluousness. If there is something that does not contribute to the space, it should be eliminated”. Wood, neutral tones and simplicity become the protagonists.
The landscaping of the house is designed with resource efficiency in mind, in this case water resources, by avoiding a water-intensive garden and opting for xerophilic landscaping with local species. This reduces maintenance and water consumption in the summer.
The cork façade is a conscious choice by architects because it is a natural material, resistant and able to age with dignity without any maintenance, functioning both as a façade and as an insulator.
In times of energy crisis, Casa Eñe stands out for its efficiency, with low consumption and monthly bills of 60 euros, while embodying the fusion of aesthetics, functionality and environmental responsibility. This house is a contemporary reflection that shows that architecture can be beautiful and efficient, advocating sustainability.
We believe in a simple architecture free of artifice. An architecture of essence. Simple. Minimal.
