Renovation of Historical Urban Villa in Penedes
Location: Penedes, Catalonia, Spain. GFA: 1,500 sqm.
Architectural concept
heritage urban villa renovation
The ancient heart of the Penedes wine country holds its secrets in stone - and this heritage urban villa renovation asked us to listen before we spoke. Our studio approached a layered historical residence in the medieval downtown of one of Catalonia's most storied comarcas, where the scent of oak barrels and crushed limestone drifts through narrow streets on summer evenings. The client - a family deeply rooted in Catalan culture, with an appreciation for both permanence and refined contemporary living - wished to preserve the soul of the original structure while unlocking a new domestic life within its walls. We proposed an intervention that honours every inherited arch and vault while weaving seamlessly the precision of contemporary spatial thinking into the ancient fabric.
Spatial organisation
At 1,500 sqm, the programme unfolds across multiple levels - from the cool intimacy of the volta catalana wine cellar at basement level to the luminous attico terrace that opens toward vineyard horizons above the city roofline. The ground floor is organised around the interior courtyard patio, the thermal and social heart of the house, where a fruit garden creates an extraordinary sense of enclosure and seasonal rhythm. Glass walls dissolve the boundary between the generous kitchen-dining room and the patio, allowing family life to spill naturally into the open air from April through October - seven full months of outdoor season that the Mediterranean continental climate generously offers. The attico storey, visible in the architectural render as a crisp white volume with full-height glazing and a private terrace, frames spectacular views across the tiled roofscape and gives the residence its contemporary crown.
Materials and climate
Penedes limestone masonry
Our studio chose a palette anchored entirely in the regional material tradition. Penedes limestone masonry forms the structural and expressive core of the building - its high thermal mass absorbing the fierce summer heat above 35 degrees Celsius during daylight and releasing that warmth slowly through cool nights, where diurnal temperature swings regularly exceed 15 degrees Celsius. Reclaimed oak beams recovered from the original structure reappear as ceiling elements, connecting present inhabitants to centuries of domestic craft. Hydraulic encaustic tile patterns drawn from the Catalan vernacular tradition grace interior floors, their dense ceramic body contributing additional thermal mass while providing an unmistakable visual identity. External facades are finished in white mineral render that reflects solar radiation, reducing cooling loads without mechanical intervention.
Bioclimatic strategy
Passive climate logic governs every spatial decision here. The thick perimeter walls - in places exceeding 60 centimetres of limestone - function as a natural thermal buffer, keeping interior temperatures comfortable well into the hottest afternoons. Cross-ventilation through courtyard section is the primary cooling mechanism: prevailing south-westerly breezes enter through garden-level openings, are cooled as they pass over the planted patio, and rise through the vertical section to exit at rooftop level - a convective chimney effect that renders mechanical cooling largely redundant through transitional seasons. The cellar level, carved from existing stone, maintains a near-constant temperature between 12 and 16 degrees Celsius year-round, serving both as a private winery space and as a thermal anchor for the floors above.
Energy and sustainability
The renovation was designed in full compliance with the Spanish CTE DB-HE energy standard, with insulation values exceeding regulatory minima at all upgraded envelope elements. A rooftop solar photovoltaic array, integrated discreetly into the attico parapet so as not to disturb the heritage silhouette, provides a meaningful share of annual electrical demand. The geothermal potential of the deep stone basement was evaluated and incorporated into the heating strategy for winter months, when temperatures in Penedes drop between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. All new glazing uses thermally broken aluminium profiles with low-emissivity coatings, balancing the desire for visual openness with the need for solar control during peak summer.
Landscape
The patio garden is planted as a Mediterranean dry garden composition - orange and lemon trees in terracotta containers, lavender and rosemary edging stone pathways, an old almond tree preserved at the centre as a living memory of the site. The swimming pool is positioned to receive maximum afternoon sun while remaining shielded from street noise by the original stone perimeter wall. On the terrace level, as the rendered image reveals, white outdoor sofas and a generous parasol create an impeccable setting for long summer evenings - an unforgettable first impression of the sky above Penedes.
In the end, luxury here is expressed in the thickness of a wall and the silence of a cellar.
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