To insulate a drafty, rundown home in Barcelona while making it as healthy as possible and also “perfectly integrated into the urban forest,” architect Elisabetta Quarta Colosso wrapped the entire thing in cork.
Not only are the interior walls, the roof, and the floors covered in cork insulation, but the entire back facade of the home is clad in cork. Since cork material is simply tree bark (it’s a renewable material since cork oak trees are preserved and only the bark is harvested every 9 to 11 years), it blends seamlessly with the surrounding trees of the backyard garden.
Quarta Colosso wanted to use natural materials whenever possible in the home’s remodel, so she experimented with materials like chalk floors instead of microcement and clay walls that don’t need paint since they naturally reflect the wide range of colors of the earth (greens, oranges, reds, etc.).
The backyard house, formerly the servants’ quarters, was refurbished as an office and library with natural bricks (from a local factory) stacked to create a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Every space is utilized; even a small lightwell off the bedroom was wrapped in cork and is now a meditation space (cork absorbs sound).
The home is a passive house, relying on strategies like passive solar – all the trees are deciduous to block summer light and allow for winter sun – and a ventilated underfloor cavity and vents on the facades to promote passive cross ventilation from north to south. While the house passed the “blower door test” ensuring the doors and windows don’t leak, the walls of the home are all-natural – cork, brick, and clay – so the house “breaths,” allowing for clean indoor air quality.
On *faircompanies: https://faircompanies.com/videos/cork-wrapped-home-uses-natural-patterns-for-well-being-climate/
How did she glue the corks on the walls..!!???
How clearly and interestingly she expresses herself, and with some charming accent of Catelonia.
Beautiful footage, towards the end.
Does the factory processing the cork use solar power for all that heat and pressure?
Coak changed colors when it got wet, because it was holding moisture, not something you would want, next to concrete.
Tadelak is similar to venetian plaster, estuco veneciano. Lime plasters are "burnt" "quemado" which aligns the mármol and lime particles acquiring a particular shine or even reflection, mirror reflection.
As said it's breathable, antifungical, washable, water resistant and after waxed even water repelant.
Pigments and metalic pigments can be added to the wax. Marmol and stone imitations are ver common. Faux finishes.
Son unos acabados muy nobles para interior y exterior.
I feel like manufacturing cork like that would have suited Frank Lloyd Wright really well.
beyond gorgeous — brilliant thought process and design resulting in the most livable space!
Fantastic project…I love cork…all the natural materials make this a beautiful, responsible build…thanks
Brilliant ideas and finishes.
Wow… absolutely beautiful home. Thanks for sharing
KD- one of your best yet…..
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Such a beautiful property. I wonder the cost of renovations.
Genuinely inspiring, I loved this one! Not just style but substance.
Beautiful home, love the brick bookshelves, although they might be rough on the book bottoms.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.