House around a walnut in Ávila
Raúl Almenara 

House around a walnut in Ávila

Raúl Almenara 


In a small town in Ávila province, this dwelling built with local granite surrounds a hundred-year-old walnut tree. To leave its roots and top untouched, the facade curves. The building’s petrous materiality was already present in the property, in a boundary wall that has been kept intact, delimiting an orchard, and in a trough which is now indoors. Incorporating features of traditional vernacular construction such as the pitched roof, the house has only three large openings: a curving pane of glass facing the walnut, pierced by a continuous table that connects the interior to the exterior; an aperture in front with views of a livestock route; and a skylight.