Two innovative family homes constructed primarily from cork and wood have been completed along Spain's Costa Brava, offering a sustainable retreat that harmoniously integrates with the surrounding pine and oak forest. Designed by Barcelona-based López Rivera Arquitectes, founded by architects Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera, these eco-friendly structures serve as weekend and summer refuges for three generations of the same family.
The houses are situated on a densely wooded property filled with tall, slender pines, young cork oaks, and stone oaks in an area of Costa Brava where cork farms once operated. This historical connection inspired the architects to clad the buildings in two layers of cork material, predominantly sourced from Portugal. The property slopes steeply upward from the access road, with a newly constructed water basin positioned at the highest point.
Positioned halfway between the road and the water basin, both houses feature an outdoor area that serves as an arrival and meeting point for the three generations of family members living in this complex. The cork cladding not only allows the structures to blend harmoniously with the forested landscape but also significantly improves the buildings' thermal insulation thanks to the material's natural insulating properties.
The architects used concrete for the foundation while employing cross-laminated timber from pine for all other structural elements. Inside the homes, the wood remains exposed and unclad, creating a cozy atmosphere reminiscent of a cottage or mountain cabin. As López Rivera Arquitectes explains, this creates a warm ambiance that evokes the nearby forest rather than the sea, which lies just 500 meters from the houses.
The interior spaces are oriented outward through large openings that offer magnificent views of nature. The intimate indoor spaces are interconnected, eliminating the need for hallways and creating a sequence of rooms of varying sizes. Their usage is defined by their relationship to the outdoor environment, whether through distant ocean views, perspectives of pine treetops, or direct access to the property grounds.
Cork serves as an effective and sustainable building material, being natural, recyclable, and possessing high durability. The warm, residential atmosphere is enhanced not only by the pine panels but also by the architects' thoughtful room layout, which strengthens the connection to nature as a central design theme.
The two family houses offer living spaces of 247 and 112 square meters respectively. The larger building serves as the preferred location for most family gatherings and celebrations. The main floor is extended by a freestanding concrete annex, a two-level construction positioned between the house and the pine trees. The two stacked terraces provide residents with views of both the sea and the Les Gavarres mountain range, part of the Catalonian coastal mountain chain.
In designing the terrace structure, López and Rivera incorporated the trunk of a pine tree that now penetrates both levels, allowing the house to completely merge with its surroundings. Thanks to the sandblasted concrete construction that connects to the cork house facade, terrace-like outdoor areas were created, avoiding the need to seal additional surface area or further intervene in the landscape.
Sustainability served as one of the fundamental pillars of this project. The architects implemented aerothermal energy systems and integrated heating operated through an air heat pump, working in combination with underfloor heating concealed beneath custom-made ceramic tiles from Ceràmica Cumella. These solutions enable both buildings to achieve very low energy consumption and earn Energy Efficiency Class A ratings.
The project's goal was to create sustainable structures suitable for family gatherings while strengthening the connection to the natural environment without harming it. The houses, constructed from cork, wood, and concrete, provide shade, views, and adequate living space, with the architectural duo placing great emphasis on respecting the property's natural characteristics.
The compact, vertical houses rise from uneven terrain that was modified as little as possible to avoid interventions in the natural topography, constructed without walls, paved terraces, or underground garages. Following the principle of maintaining the natural environment, the studio chose to preserve existing vegetation as much as possible while supplementing it with new Mediterranean understory species, protecting the ecosystem and creating the impression that the location has barely changed since the construction of the two cork houses.
Every centimeter of space was carefully considered by Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera for functional and ecological design. The result is two vacation homes that are not only firmly rooted in the Catalonian landscape but also consciously built and sustainably conceived, providing ample space for shared experiences and memories while demonstrating how contemporary architecture can work in harmony with natural environments.
