Casa Mínima
Casa Mínima is the rehabilitation of a traditional Pasiego cabin in the rural landscape of Cantabria, northern Spain. The project transforms a deteriorated agricultural structure into a contemporary dwelling while preserving the spatial logic and material presence of this vernacular building type.
Pasiego cabins are stone constructions associated with the semi-transhumant pastoral culture of the region. Built with thick masonry walls and timber roofs, they traditionally combined livestock spaces on the ground floor with seasonal living quarters above, accessed directly from the exterior by a stone staircase. The intervention preserves this typological structure while adapting the building to contemporary domestic use.
The exterior volume and stone masonry remain largely unchanged. The walls — up to 80 cm thick and historically assembled with earth rather than mortar — retain their characteristic dry-stone appearance within the landscape. Rather than altering the façade, the environmental upgrade is concentrated inside the building through the construction of a high-performance internal envelope that provides insulation and airtightness while preserving the historic structure.
This strategy allows the building to achieve the EnerPHit standard — the Passivhaus certification for high-performance retrofits. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and an integrated heat-pump system ensure stable indoor temperatures and constant air quality with minimal energy demand.
Originally the ground floor functioned as a stable: a dark, continuous space defined by massive stone walls and minimal openings. The rehabilitation transforms this level into the main domestic area, organizing kitchen, dining and living spaces within a single open interior. New openings carved into the thick masonry introduce natural light and establish a direct relationship with the surrounding valley.
Adjacent to the house, a former manure enclosure has been cleared and redefined as a stone patio paved with the large slabs that once formed the stable floor, preserving the material memory of the building while extending the domestic space outward.
