Spolia Office Renovates Asturian Mountain Home with Glass Blocks and Bold Color

Spolia Office, led by Mireya Fabregas and Juancho Mesa, has completed the renovation of a three-story mountainside residence in Siero, Asturias, for a sommelier. The 148-square-meter house, named House for Rural Habits, features a translucent glass-block core that diffuses daylight and glows like a lantern at night. The architects stripped away dark compartmentalized walls to invite the valley inside, using large apertures inspired by Le Corbusier to frame the landscape as a living painting. The interior employs an austere material palette with epoxy floors, yellow rubber surfaces, and accents of sun yellow, mountain green, and apple red. In the basement, original stone walls were restored, and a foundation block with the construction date was preserved. The attic serves as a quiet guest room. The project rejects nostalgic rural luxury in favor of functional, contemporary design, joining a broader discourse on rural architectural innovation seen in works by Archiplanstudio in Italy and WORKac in the United States.