House In Huerta De Rey / Mecanismo

Architects: Mecanismo
Photographs: Adrián Vázquez
Municipality: Huerta de Rey
Country: Spain

House in Huerta de Rey, designed by Mecanismo, is located in the rural village of Huerta de Rey, Burgos, Spain, an area known for its quiet, depopulating villages. The house occupies a site between two streets at differing elevations, with entry from the higher northern street through a ceramic block wall that provides privacy and opens into a double-height patio leading down to the lower level. The design divides the home into two distinct sections: the northern block, with ceramic walls housing the bathrooms, living room, and kitchen, and a southern concrete volume, which is suspended to form a shaded porch and contains the bedrooms. The structure maximizes natural light and thermal regulation through careful orientation, semi-entrenching the ground floor, and the use of ventilated ceramic and raw concrete, contrasting with the warm oak interior finishes to blend modern functionality with rustic surroundings.

Huerta de Rey is situated in Spain’s Burgos province, an area known for small villages that are slowly becoming depopulated. This trend has turned some of these villages into quiet vacation destinations, where a melancholic calm prevails outside peak tourist seasons. Designed by Mecanismo, this house thoughtfully embraces its context by blending into the peaceful rural landscape surrounding it.

The site is positioned between two streets, one to the north and one to the south, each at different heights. The northern street sits three meters above the southern street, creating a natural elevation shift across the site.

The house is accessed from the northern boundary, where a hermetic ceramic block wall creates a buffer along the façade. This wall isolates the house from the street, ensuring privacy, and opens slightly in the center, revealing a double-height patio that descends to the house’s lower level.

The house is divided into two distinct sections, each marked by different materials visible from the outside. The first section, featuring the large ceramic block wall along the northern side, includes bathrooms on the upper floors, while the living room, kitchen, toilet, and basement are located at garden level.

The second section is an elevated concrete volume that extends southward, creating a porch below. This suspended structure houses three bedrooms within its space.

The two sections establish a clear functional division that aligns with the structure and material choices of the project, each component’s design expressing its purpose through distinct materials.

Inside, rooms are arranged to maximize functionality and are positioned according to their privacy needs. Natural light is prioritized while direct sunlight exposure is minimized, with carefully oriented openings and a semi-entrenched ground floor. These design choices contribute to the house’s natural thermal regulation, reducing reliance on artificial climate control.

The ceramic block forms a ventilated façade, adding both texture and dynamic visual interest, while untreated, crushed concrete highlights the rugged, irregular stone quality of the surrounding landscape. In contrast, the interior features warm, natural finishes with oak wood paneling and flooring, bringing a sense of warmth and softness to the indoor spaces.