200. Granite House

This house is set on a sloping plot in the mountains of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, behind a large rock outcrop halfway up the slope, between Camino de Peguerinos and Calle de los Castaños. The greenery on the site, with pines below and oaks at the highest elevations, is an indicator of the place's mountainous landscape. The house is intended as a model for how to build in such a valuable protected environment. With its heavy material quality, expressed by thick granite walls, the construction revels in its mountainous character, forming an impressive stone lookout facing the luminous landscape of Las Machotas and the Monastery of San Lorenzo. The house is organized over three floors, staggered across the plot's steep slope: the lower level houses the guest area; the middle floor is reserved for the family bedrooms; and the top floor, with four large balconies looking over the landscape, holds the spaces for the living and dining rooms and the kitchen.

The compact volume of the stone construction, with its deep square openings, is contrasted by two light metal pergolas that stand as elemental thermodynamic artifacts. The first pergola, located on a terrace that opens toward the valley, outlines an abstract grid in the air, its layout evoking the house's staggered volumes. The second, set on the side that faces the mountain, forms the delicate threshold amid the oak trees that provides access to the house through four sliding doors. The entire construction is made of granite from the Sierra de Madrid, recycled from other buildings. The openings are framed by large pieces of quarried granite, with thick window and door frames made from domestic oak. The site is treated naturally: the existing trees are maintained, and the surfaces are covered with native vegetation and trees. The treatment of the terrain is rooted in the restoration of an anthropized landscape, recreating the geological and botanical qualities of the Sierra de Madrid.