House Within a House, Sasamón

MADE.V arquitectos turns a former pigsty in rural Burgos into a small family home—old adobe shell outside, a warm timber “house” built inside.

In the village of Sasamón, northwest of Burgos, Spain, a squat farm building gets a second life without losing its place on the street. The studio—MADE.V arquitectos—kept the original façades and stone base, then emptied the interior and slipped a new laminated‑timber structure inside the shell. The move is literal: a house within a house, partially attached to the old adobe walls so the gap between the two can breathe and admit light. What began as a 60‑square‑meter pigsty is now a compact home of about 102 square meters across two levels, finished in 2025 and tuned to the scale of its neighbors.

The interior reads as a clear sequence. A black steel stair rises along the timber core to a mezzanine; big sliding and hinged doors in the same wood switch the plan from open to private with a single push. Floors are a transparent resin poured over a radiant‑heating slab, so the concrete’s tone stays visible and the room stays warm underfoot. Walls carry a single coat of mortar—inside and out—for continuity; new insulation sits behind it, and the traditional beam‑and‑rafter roof has been rebuilt in laminated pine for precision and longevity. Most elements were prefabricated by local makers and delivered in modules, which kept the intervention exact and light on transport.

Living here is about the relationship between the old perimeter and the new core. You move along the warm timber, glance to the rougher adobe, and always know where you are in the building. Morning light hits the resin floor and climbs the wood grain; in the afternoon the stair throws a sharp shadow across the wall; at night the rooms settle into a quiet, chalky matte. The house holds steady temperatures, the plan flexes for guests or work, and the rural memory of the place—street façade, stone base, modest height—stays intact. It’s a simple idea carried through with care: keep the village face, rebuild the inside as a timber box, and let the two speak to each other.

Photography: Javier Bravo