North Face

Designed to protect from the northern cold winds, the private sustainable house from Nodo17 is built behind a perimeter wall made of reused granite from a house in ruins.

North Face is a private housing project from Madrid-based architects nodo17, designed around a protection wall to repair from cold winds, and built reusing granite masonry from a house in ruins.

nodo17, North Face house, El Escorial, Madrid, 2015. Private housing made by reusing granite masonry from a house in ruins

In the inner facade of the wall grows a humid landscape of climbing plants, fig and palm trees, while a south oriented solar chimney illuminates the interior landscape from above. The program is developed between the inner landscape of northern wall and the exterior landscape formed by liquidambars and cedars, in a fragmentation that enhances the diagonal views of the exterior landscape.

The project is opened to south orientation and protected to west, in order to minimize energy consumption, with eaves and deciduous trees that allow optimal sun protection. The inner ‘landscape’ works as a greenhouse during winter, enhancing cross ventilation in summer. The building envelope is formed by multiple isolation layers preventing any cold bridging, and a 80cm wide pipe, 300m long, is buried along the site, working as a Canadian pipe system that allows pre-conditioned air.

nodo17, North Face house, El Escorial, Madrid, 2015. Private housing made by reusing granite masonry from a house in ruins