Hay fever: La Trufa harnesses nature’s power

Madrid – Unlike your average Spanish holiday home, Antón García-Abril of Ensamble Studio has designed an unconventional holiday residence that harks back to nature.

Located on Spain’s Costa da Morte, the La Trufa project is an intricate architectural feat that combines traditional building techniques with more natural methods, and incorporates an animal’s grazing routine as part of the construction process.

To build the home, layers of hay bales were covered in concrete and buried in soil. Once solidified, the bales were retrieved and cut open, allowing the home to be assembled.

In the final stage, a calf grazed on the remaining hay bales inside the structure’s core to reveal the interior, resulting in an unusual design solution.

The La Trufa project manages to blend into, rather than blemish, its environment. For other examples of developments concerning the home, read our report on Homestead 3.0.