Estels House by ENDALT Arquitectes

In the quiet town of Albal, located in l’Horta Sud near Valencia, Estels House (Casa dels Estels) stands as a thoughtful example of how rural heritage can be reinhabited without nostalgia or erasure. Designed by ENDALT Arquitectes, the 152 m² residential restoration carefully navigates the space between preservation and transformation, revealing the latent potential of traditional Valencian domestic architecture while adapting it to contemporary life.

A Sensitive Restoration Rooted in Valencian Vernacular Architecture

Rather than imposing a new architectural language, the intervention listens closely to what already exists. The project recovers memory, material logic, and spatial organization embedded in the house’s original structure, allowing the past to continue living through renewed use. Estels House proposes a third way, neither abandonment nor folklorization, where vernacular architecture is treated as a living system capable of evolution.

The Vernacular House as a Cultural Framework

Traditional houses in Valencian villages: common in regions such as l’Horta, la Ribera, and la Safor: share a recognizable architectural structure shaped by climate, agriculture, and social life. These dwellings were conceived not only as homes but also as places of work, storage, and coexistence. Their value lies less in singularity than in repetition, adaptability, and deep environmental intelligence.

Typically organized with an entrance for carts, a central hall, cool storage rooms, kitchen spaces, courtyards, and an attic beneath the roof, these houses were constructed using local materials such as rammed earth, solid brick, lime, clay, and reed. Each material reflects generations of accumulated knowledge, responding naturally to temperature, humidity, and seasonal use.

Casa dels Estels follows this traditional model closely. Before intervention, the house retained a double-bay structure, a central staircase, a courtyard with a lemon tree, and an old barn (pallissa). Built with rammed earth walls, solid brick partitions, and a gabled roof, the dwelling had been uninhabited for years and was in a severe state of deterioration. Yet within its decay lay architectural clarity and spatial richness waiting to be revealed.

The Andana: Memory Beneath the Roof

One of the most significant spatial elements in Valencian rural houses is the andana, the attic space located directly beneath the roof. Historically used for storage, drying agricultural products, or sheltering animals, the andana carries a powerful atmospheric quality. Its raw materials, filtered light, and relationship to the roof structure make it a place imbued with memory.

In many contemporary renovations, this space is either erased or overly stylized. In Estels House, however, the andana becomes a central protagonist. ENDALT Arquitectes recognized its latent potential and transformed it into a versatile living space, carefully extending it with a modest architectural addition and a partially raised roof. This intervention preserves the character of the original volume while allowing new uses to emerge naturally.

The andana now functions as a flexible area that can accommodate leisure, rest, or work, bridging the domestic needs of today with the atmospheric depth of the past.

A Restoration That Reveals Rather Than Replaces

The architectural approach behind Estels House is neither conservative nor disruptive. The aim was not to freeze the house in time nor to convert it into a museum piece, but to recover its essential character while ensuring comfort, efficiency, and luminosity.

The intervention focused on restoring the most valuable existing elements:

• Rammed earth walls, repaired and stabilized
• Original beams, cleaned and reused
• Vaulted ceilings, revealed and enhanced

Spatial clarity was improved through subtle adjustments rather than radical changes. Cross ventilation was enhanced to respond naturally to the Mediterranean climate, while new visual and physical connections between interior and exterior spaces were carefully introduced. The courtyard, once merely functional, now acts as a climatic and social heart of the house.

Throughout the project, architecture operates as an act of accompaniment, guiding the house gently into a new phase of life without severing its relationship with the past.

Material Reuse as Architectural Ethic

One of the project’s strongest commitments lies in its reuse of materials, reinforcing both sustainability and continuity with vernacular traditions. Bricks salvaged from the old roof were repurposed as flooring. Timber beams were reclaimed and reinserted. Lime mortars, ceramics, and traditional construction techniques were employed wherever possible.

This material strategy is not driven by nostalgia but by coherence. Old and new elements coexist in dialogue, allowing the intervention to feel inevitable rather than imposed. New construction elements are deliberately restrained, ensuring that additions complement rather than compete with the original structure.

The result is an architecture where sustainability emerges not from technological display but from careful reuse, local logic, and respect for material cycles.

Interior Atmospheres Shaped by Memory

Inside Estels House, color and material choices evoke rural memory while supporting contemporary living. Finishes are selected not for trend but for resonance.

Green ceramic tiles recall the original baseboards common in Valencian houses. Yellow tones appear in bathrooms and the pool, echoing reflections of water and Mediterranean light. Terracotta surfaces preserve the tactile presence of craftsmanship, maintaining a connection to handmade traditions.

The spatial narrative is quietly poetic: where animals once rested, bedrooms now provide intimacy and rest; where grain was stored, shelves now hold books. These transformations do not erase the past but reinterpret it, allowing domestic life to continue in evolved form.

Furniture and lighting are restrained, allowing architecture to remain the primary storyteller. Wood, concrete, and ceramics interact through texture and light rather than contrast, creating interiors that feel calm, grounded, and timeless.

Light, Ventilation, and Climatic Intelligence

Beyond its material sensitivity, Estels House performs climatically through passive strategies rooted in vernacular wisdom. Thick rammed earth walls provide thermal mass, regulating interior temperatures naturally. Cross ventilation channels air through the house, reducing reliance on mechanical systems.

Openings are carefully positioned to frame light rather than flood spaces indiscriminately. The house remains bright yet cool, responding to the Mediterranean climate in a way that contemporary construction often overlooks.

The courtyard plays a crucial role in this environmental performance, acting as a buffer between inside and outside while fostering daily interaction with nature, symbolized by the preserved lemon tree at its center.

Architecture as Continuity, Not Contrast

What distinguishes Estels House is its refusal to dramatize intervention. The project does not announce itself through bold gestures or stark contrasts. Instead, it demonstrates that architectural restraint can be transformative.

ENDALT Arquitectes positions the project as an act of revelation rather than reinvention. The house becomes legible again, its logic restored, its spaces clarified, its materials allowed to speak. This approach reflects a broader architectural ethic, one that views heritage not as an obstacle to progress but as a foundation for meaningful contemporary living.

A Third Path for Rural Heritage

Casa dels Estels ultimately stands as an argument for a third path in the treatment of rural architecture. Against abandonment on one hand and superficial folklorization on the other, the project proposes a way of inhabiting that is rooted, functional, and emotionally resonant.

It shows how vernacular buildings can adapt without losing dignity, how memory can coexist with modern comfort, and how sustainability can emerge from continuity rather than replacement. In doing so, Estels House becomes not just a restored dwelling, but a model for future interventions in rural and peri-urban contexts.

All the Photographs are works of David Zarzoso