Retina House is a Simple Family Retreat Set Among the Hills of Santa Pau in Spain

This property can be found in the region of Santa Pau in Spain. It’s a small house with generous storage and outdoor spaces, overlooking a meadow.

The project was overseen by the Spanish architecture firm, Arnau estudi d’arquitectura. The finished home has been dubbed Retina House, and was completed in 2017.

The size of Retina House hasn’t been given, but from looking at the floor plans, you can see it’s not an overly large structure (although it certainly looks it from the outside). It contains four rooms, placed one after the other in order to take advantage of the views to the front.

The house has been built as a countryside retreat for a family: “This is the story of a family refuge where one can enjoy nature and simple things; of a time machine that wants to keep this precious landscape forever unchanged.”

The construction takes advantage of a seemingly simple material palette. The use of concrete, wood and steel is apparent. Much of the interior has left the concrete exposed, only to be soften by the presence of furnishings and wood finishes.

The front elevation is almost entirely, spar for the presence of a few concrete columns that support the roof structure, and help divide up the floor plan.

There’s a bedroom to be found at each end of the house, with a living room and kitchen/dining area found in between. The only bathroom is an en suite, located in the master bedroom. There are no doors separating each of the rooms – they’ve each been left open to one another, and a wall used to provide some degree of privacy and separation.

For more small houses check out Melbourne Vernacular, a hundred-year-old worker’s cottage conversion. Or, this modest extension by Taylor Knight that transforms a Brunswick West home. See all small houses.

Photos © Marc Torra, Pep Sau