The heat in Albacete, Spain, had one couple dreaming of escaping their city apartment for somewhere cooler—somewhere they and their two kids could spend summers, lazy spring weekends, and time with extended family around Christmas. For that “just right” holiday home, they tasked Bizna Estudio with a sustainable build that was comfortable year-round, easy to maintain, and, importantly, not too hard to get to.

Just a 12-minute drive from their city flat, the family’s new home, Casa Ja!, feels “15 degrees cooler,” they say. It sounds like a high-tech miracle, but its actually the result of low-tech vernacular wisdom. For the 2,200-square-foot, three-bed, two-bath plan, Bizna Estudio used a few local materials—brick, white lime mortar, and ceramic tile—and combined them with a gable form common to the area to create a comfortable, low-energy home without adding unnecessary costs.

“The goal was to focus on the basics and eliminate the superfluous,” says Pedro Torres García-Cantó, cofounder and principal of Bizna Estudio. “It has what is necessary to live well without any added expenses.”

For a natural cooling effect, the studio used brick liberally—more than is typically used for homes in the area—for the patios, baseboards, and several walls. “We wanted to make the most of its hygrothermal properties,” says Torres, referring to how the material captures humidity at night and releases it during the day. He made a point of using materials that could serve multiple functions at once: In addition to the cooling effect the brick provides to the interiors, for example, it’s also structural, and serves as a finishing material.

Like many of the area’s traditional homes, Casa Ja! is sited to maximize passive heating and cooling. Bizna Estudio faced the home to the south toward the sun, which, in the winter, allows it to capture as much heat and light as possible. In the summer, with stiff southerly winds, opening the doors and windows allow breezes to flow through, while shutters over the windows allow the family to fine tune. For added ventilation, Bizna Estudio gave the rooms tall, pitched ceilings with small diamond-shaped vents in the external walls—“a hallmark of the house,” says the client—which allow hot air to escape.

“The goal was to focus on the basics and eliminate the superfluous.”
—Pedro Torres García-Cantó, architect

It helped that a local regulation required a wall be built around the perimeter of the property. Without concern for privacy, the studio was able to use generously sized windows and doors from the front to the back of the house. “Once you enter the front gate, you can see through to the back garden,” says cofounder and Bizna Estudio principal Rocío García Peña.

The clients are particularly grateful to have direct access to the outdoors, they say. From inside the living room or while outside on the porch, they can watch the children swimming in the pool or playing on the swings. The garage, usually used as such, has also served as a surprisingly ideal indoor/outdoor play area, and as a covered patio for larger gatherings.

The home’s simple materiality ties it back to the area’s vernacular architecture. “The color of the brick for the walls corresponds to the clay in this part of the country,” says García. “The pale pink for the patio matches the traditional palette of La Mancha materials.” The blue shutters mimic the indigo color historically used for baseboards.

“The look of the house reminds us a lot of the homes around La Mancha,” adds the client. “We’re not that far from the city, but living here makes us feel that we really are in the countryside.”

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Rocío García Peña and Pedro Torres García-Cantó Bizna Estudio / @biznaestudio

Photography: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzman+ Rocio Romero) / @imagensubliminal

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A Low-Tech Holiday Home in Spain Maximizes Its Energy Efficiency