Spanish architecture firm Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has completed a remarkable restoration project that breathes new life into an abandoned 19th-century farmhouse in Canet d'Adri, located in the heart of Serrat de la Cadalt in Girona province. The 385-square-meter Mas Cadalt House represents a thoughtful approach to adaptive reuse, demonstrating how traditional rural architecture can be sensitively updated for contemporary living while preserving its essential character and cultural significance.
The project emerged from a unique client story that reflects changing lifestyle priorities in the post-pandemic era. The new inhabitants, a British couple including renowned designer Terence Woodgate, left their established life in London to begin a new chapter in rural Spain, seeking tranquility, natural light, and connection with the landscape. This transition exemplifies the growing trend of remote work possibilities that began taking shape in the 1990s and accelerated dramatically in recent years, allowing professionals to maintain their careers while relocating to exceptional natural environments.
Fran Silvestre Arquitectos approached the restoration with a philosophy of minimal intervention, maintaining the original volume and typology while transforming only what was essential for modern habitation. The design team, led by Fran Silvestre and Estefania Soriano along with numerous collaborating architects and interior designers, respected the existing spatial dimensions and aligned each area with specific programmatic needs. The project's success lies in its ability to preserve the farmhouse's authentic character while seamlessly integrating contemporary comfort and functionality.
The architectural program is thoughtfully distributed across three levels, each serving distinct functions while maintaining visual and spatial continuity. On the main access level, the kitchen incorporates the impressive triple-height space of the existing tower, creating a dramatic focal point that celebrates the building's original grandeur. The living room is strategically oriented toward views of the Sierra de la Cadalt, establishing a strong connection between interior spaces and the surrounding landscape. The upper floor accommodates two bedrooms, while the lower level transforms the former animal quarters into a versatile multipurpose room, demonstrating creative adaptive reuse of traditional agricultural spaces.
The restoration process required careful attention to traditional Girona construction techniques, which are characteristic of the broader Empordà region. The original load-bearing walls, constructed from irregular limestone masonry joined with air lime mortar, were meticulously reconstructed and repaired. Corners, lintels, and jambs executed with precisely dressed stones provide structural integrity and stability throughout the building. Interior walls traditionally received lime and sand plaster finished with slaked lime, a technique that enhanced cleaning capabilities and significantly improved interior brightness.
Modern sustainability measures were seamlessly integrated into the traditional construction system without compromising the building's historical authenticity. After reconstructing the limestone walls, the architects added thermal insulation made from natural cork, ensuring improved energy performance while using environmentally responsible materials. A second interior skin was installed to increase brightness, improve maintenance conditions, and discreetly integrate all necessary contemporary installations including electrical, plumbing, and climate control systems. The limestone flooring maintains material coherence throughout the intervention, creating visual continuity between old and new elements.
The interior design concept creates a sophisticated dialogue between architecture and product design, with every detail carefully considered to achieve seamless integration. Electrical outlets are installed flush with walls, construction elements meet at precise single points, and each design decision honestly reflects the contemporary era of intervention while respecting the building's historical character. This approach generates a precise conversation between existing architectural elements and modern additions, creating spaces that feel both timeless and thoroughly contemporary.
Sustainability and self-sufficiency were central priorities in the restoration, reflecting growing environmental consciousness and the desire for energy independence. The house achieves complete independence from both energy and water perspectives through the installation of photovoltaic panels with battery storage systems and a specifically designed cistern network. One cistern cleverly doubles as a swimming pool, providing recreational amenities while serving practical water storage functions. The surrounding hectares of land, some actively cultivated, produce more than sufficient food to meet the needs of the British couple, creating a truly self-sustaining rural lifestyle.
The adjacent volume that once housed farming tools has been repurposed as a modern garage, while its upper floor now serves as a professional studio where designer Terence Woodgate directs his international work. This arrangement perfectly embodies the project's central theme of maintaining professional excellence while embracing rural tranquility, proving that contemporary creative work can thrive in traditional agricultural settings when thoughtfully adapted.
Photographer Fernando Guerra's documentation captures the project's essential qualities, revealing how natural light animates the restored spaces throughout the day and seasons. The images demonstrate the successful balance between preservation and innovation, showing how contemporary interventions enhance rather than overshadow the building's original character and charm.
The Mas Cadalt House project exemplifies architecture firm Fran Silvestre Arquitectos' broader philosophy of respectful intervention and cultural preservation. The architects describe their approach as allowing all external influences, experiences, and preconceptions to gradually fade during the design process, leaving only the essential dialogue between existing conditions and necessary contemporary additions. This methodology results in interventions that feel natural and inevitable rather than imposed or artificial.
Completed in 2025, the Mas Cadalt House stands as a compelling example of how abandoned rural architecture can be sensitively restored to serve contemporary needs while preserving cultural heritage and environmental values. The project demonstrates that successful adaptive reuse requires deep understanding of traditional construction techniques, respect for existing spatial qualities, and careful integration of modern amenities and sustainability systems. Through this thoughtful approach, Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has created not just a restored building, but a new model for rural living that honors the past while embracing the future.
