Vallribera Noray wraps Sabadell house around a Liquidambar tree

Vallribera Noray Arquitectes has completed a 210-square-meter single-family home in Sabadell, Spain, organized around a central bioclimatic courtyard anchored by a Liquidambar styraciflua tree. The design prioritizes natural light, well-being, and family calm over ostentation. The ground floor houses daytime living areas, including a living room with a custom sofa made from leftover structural panels, a pale green kitchen opening onto a rear garden with a minimalist pool and concrete outdoor kitchen, and a courtyard with a retractable textile shade inspired by vernacular architecture. The upper floor contains children's bedrooms that can be separated over time, a shared playroom that will later become a study, and a main bedroom facing the garden with a private terrace and unconventional bathroom and dressing room. The structure combines traditional masonry walls with exposed laminated timber joists, polished concrete flooring for thermal inertia, and achieves Passivhaus-level energy demand. The garden uses Lippia nodiflora instead of artificial turf, and the courtyard features timeless white porcelain lamps from Ifö Electric. Photographs by José Hevia.