Currently nearing completion, this is a large family house laid out on a spectacular but tightly constrained site, with panoramic views of the national park in the Guadarrama mountains just north of Madrid. 

 

The house is set into a steep slope, nestled between the granite boulders and small oak trees that characterise the local landscape.

 

It is approached from above, along a narrow and steep driveway that frames the view of the mountains beyond. The roof, divided into three hipped pavilions, emerges from the wooded setting, serving to diminish the full scale of the house beneath.

 

Internally the rooms are palatial. The palette is spare, clay floor tiles and wood linings to the windows and doors providing natural colour. The house is naturally cooled using water supplied from a borehole, thus avoiding air conditioning during the very high summer temperatures. The walls and roof are highly insulated and the windows shaded, with winter heating assisted with a ground source heat pump.