Meet Spain’s most sustainable suburban house

Lifestyle

Real Estate

Team MONEYME|21 February 2023| 2-minute read

In the 1970s, development around Murcia, in southwestern Spain, took a heavy toll. Clearing wreaked havoc on the land’s ravines (ramblas), which once cradled mini-kingdoms rich with plants and animals.

However, an innovative new property—the Rambla Climate House—hopes to repair the damage done. It’s designed to work with nature, rather than against it.

Stilts and a smart water system

For a start, the Rambla Climate House is elevated above the ground on stilts. This leaves the ravine below untouched, allowing nature to regenerate freely.

Second, a smart water system hastens the regeneration process. It collects water from the house’s roof, as well as wastewater from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry, and sprinkles it over the ravine. This means the environment is always damp, which makes for ideal growing conditions.

Solar heating, passive cooling

Furthering the Rambla Climate House’s eco-friendliness and ensuring energy efficiency is the use of renewables.

A solar coil heats the water. Meanwhile the balcony, made of marble, is passively cooled, and the walls are made of galvanised steel.

A year later…

Within just a year, the Rambla Climate House has seen results. The ravine is already home to a cornucopia of grasses, shrubs, fig trees and palms—and they’re attracting plenty of local wildlife.

The house’s interior design makes the most of this achievement. All three bedrooms and living spaces afford ravine views via floor-to-ceiling glass.

The geniuses behind the Rambla Climate House

The house began as a family project, when architect Mesa del Castillo was asked by his brother to design a new home.

Instead of building yet another cookie-cutter, eco-destructive dwelling, Castillo partnered with the Office for Political Innovation, New York, to take a new approach.

Key takeaways:

• Since the 1970s, suburban development around Murcia, Spain, has destroyed the area’s ravines, once rich with plant and animal life.
• However, the new groundbreaking Rambla Climate House is turning this around, by repairing the environment.
• The house is built on stilts, above a ravine, which is fed by a smart water system.
• Energy efficiency is ensured by solar heating and passive cooling.
• Within a year, the ravine was filled with diverse plants and animals. The house is designed so that every room affords ravine views.
• The Rambla Climate House was designed by Mesa del Castillo, in collaboration with the Office for Political Innovation, New York.