The dining room at Ca la Carolina sits beneath a Catalan vaulted ceiling of terracotta brick carried on slim concrete beams. A whitewashed rubble-stone wall holds a built-in bench, while bentwood chairs gather around a pale timber table on a terracotta-tiled floor washed in raking afternoon light.

Ca la Carolina: Lacol and Altura Arquitectes Renew an 18th-Century House in Rural Catalonia

Words by Yatzer

Rabós, Catalonia, Spain

Located in the small Catalan town of Rabós, a hillside cluster of stone houses in Alt Empordà, Ca la Carolina is a modest dwelling that has been given a new lease of life by Barcelona-based architecture cooperative Lacol in collaboration with Andorra-based architects Altura. Originally built in the 18th century, the property, known locally as Grandma Carolina's house, had stood empty for years, slowly succumbing to neglect. Rather than imposing a radically new identity, the architects approached the renovation as a careful act of reinterpretation, preserving the building's vernacular character while adapting it for contemporary living.

The attic at Ca la Carolina opens through full-height yellow-framed glazing with matching slatted blinds onto a south-facing terrace. A folding yellow deck chair sits on terracotta tiling, and beyond the balustrade the Alt Empordà countryside of fields and wooded hills extends under a clear sky.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

Seen from above, Ca la Carolina reveals its stepped section: a pink-rendered lower volume, a terracotta-tiled roof terrace with a yellow deck chair, and a glazed yellow-framed upper storey. Old pantiled roofs and a wooded river valley frame the composition.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

An aerial view places Ca la Carolina within the hillside village of Rabós, its pink and yellow volume vivid amid terracotta-pantiled roofs and pale stone houses. The ruins of a fortified medieval church and its tower rise behind, with wooded hills closing the horizon.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The original house was organised around a simple logic common to rural dwellings in the region: living quarters occupied the upper street-level floor, while the semi-basement below served agricultural purposes, accommodating animals, storage spaces and a courtyard. A previous intervention had already introduced an attic level beneath a renewed roof, adding valuable space without fundamentally altering the building's character. Lacol and Altura's task was therefore less about reinvention than about establishing a meaningful dialogue between the house's successive layers of history.

That dialogue is evident from the outside, where the team has restored the building's historic pink façade, heightening its chromatic intensity and pairing it with vividly saturated yellow window frames, shutters and blinds. This vibrant palette may initially appear surprising amid the muted tones of neighbouring buildings, yet it draws from a long-standing local tradition of colourful façades found throughout the region, allowing the house to stand out without feeling out of place.

A view of the Ca la Carolina courtyard frames its weathered drystone retaining wall, patched in earthen render, against a sheltering concrete beam. A young olive tree anchors a gravelled planting bed of lavender and low shrubs, with a curved salvaged stone trough set on the concrete ground.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The south elevation of Ca la Carolina rises in saturated pink render with yellow window frames, blinds and glazed-tile copings, the colours drawn from local tradition and intensified. Stacked volumes step down a terraced hillside among muted neighbouring houses, a pergola-shaded deck projecting at the lower level.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The side elevation of Ca la Carolina rises in saturated pink render with deep-set window reveals lined in yellow glazed tile, a yellow door at its base. Above, a glazed ochre-tiled volume meets the old pantiled roof, framing a view across vineyards at dusk.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

Photographed at dusk, Ca la Carolina stacks a pink-rendered lower volume and a glazed ochre-tiled upper storey with yellow window frames and blinds. Pergola-shaded decks step down a terraced hillside of drystone walls, the saturated palette glowing against muted village neighbours.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The entrance hall at Ca la Carolina pairs whitewashed rubble stone with a Catalan vaulted ceiling and a whitewashed concrete stair overhead. Terracotta tiles run towards a yellow front door, flanked by knotted pine doors and a built-in bench holding a potted plant.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

A wide view of the Ca la Carolina dining area sets a pale timber trestle table and bentwood chairs against a whitewashed stone wall beneath the terracotta vault. A carved antique chest of drawers stands opposite, and a yellow door closes the vista along the terracotta-tiled floor.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The dining room at Ca la Carolina sits beneath a Catalan vaulted ceiling of terracotta brick carried on slim concrete beams. A whitewashed rubble-stone wall holds a built-in bench, while bentwood chairs gather around a pale timber table on a terracotta-tiled floor washed in raking afternoon light.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The project's most transformative gesture is less immediately apparent: reorienting the house towards the south. Traditionally, the principal rooms were concentrated along the north-facing street façade, leaving the interiors relatively dark. The intervention redirects daily life towards the landscape and sunlight, transforming the main floor into a generous living and dining area that extends onto a new deck overlooking the countryside beyond.

To draw light into the dining area at the centre of the floorplan, the architects cut a void through the vaulted slab, allowing sunlight from the attic's glazed south-facing façade to filter down below, illuminating what they describe as the true social nucleus of Ca la Carolina: the dining table. An adjacent kitchen likewise enjoys southern exposure, while a staircase links the terrace to the lower courtyard, strengthening the relationship between the house's different levels and outdoor spaces.

  • A view of Ca la Carolina's dining area shows the terracotta vault meeting a whitewashed stone wall, with light entering through a skylight cut into the slab. Vintage bentwood chairs surround a timber table, and beyond a white threshold the pine-fronted kitchen carries a yellow-framed window.

    Photography by Pol Viladoms.

  • Yellow-framed glazed doors at Ca la Carolina open from a terracotta-tiled interior onto a timber deck framed in dusky pink render. Coral metal chairs and a slender bistro table face the Alt Empordà countryside, with festoon lighting strung overhead and a low stone parapet edging the view.

    Photography by Pol Viladoms.

  • A timber deck at Ca la Carolina is shaded by a slender steel pergola hung with festoon lights. Coral-toned metal chairs and dark bistro tables rest against a horizontal timber screen, while a stone parapet frames the surrounding hills under an open sky.

    Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The kitchen at Ca la Carolina centres on a vivid yellow-framed window that holds a view across the rural Catalan landscape of farmland and woods. Knotted pine cabinetry sits below a pale worktop with an inset steel sink, the composition quiet and frontal against terracotta tiling.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

An angled view of the Ca la Carolina kitchen reveals an L-shaped run of knotted pine cabinetry with timber batten pulls, topped by a pale worktop. A yellow-framed casement window admits daylight, a stainless refrigerator anchors the far wall, and terracotta tiles ground the room.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The project's greatest strength lies in how it balances preservation with restraint. Original stone walls washed in traditional white limewash, Catalan vaulted ceilings and terracotta floor tiles sourced from nearby La Bisbal d'Empordà, a town synonymous with Catalan ceramics, imbue the spaces with a palpable sense of continuity and place. Bespoke pine joinery introduces a softer, lighter counterpoint, from the kitchen cabinetry to built-in wardrobes and doors. In the bathrooms, glazed ceramic tiles in muted green and blue bring subtle colour and tactility, while handcrafted basin bowls reinforce the project's understated, locally rooted sensibility. Combined with sparse furnishings and an abundance of natural light, these elements lend the interiors a calm, almost monastic clarity.

The result is a renovation that neither romanticises the past nor seeks to erase it. Instead, Lacol and Altura Arquitectes have distilled the essence of a rural Catalan house, its robust materials, spatial logic and everyday rituals, through a contemporary lens of simplicity, clarity and light.

A sitting area at Ca la Carolina gathers a grey sofa with green cushions beneath a terracotta Catalan vault carried on concrete beams. A black wood-burning stove stands against a whitewashed rubble-stone wall, beside a carved chest of drawers and an antique timber chest.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

A bedroom at Ca la Carolina sits beneath a terracotta Catalan vault, its yellow-framed window set into a white wall above patterned bed linen in blue and ochre. A knotted pine door and flush white wardrobes complete the room, grounded by terracotta floor tiles.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

  • A detail at Ca la Carolina sets a knotted pine door into a whitewashed brick wall, its grain and knots left frank against the painted courses. Above, the terracotta Catalan vault springs from a board-marked concrete beam, meeting the terracotta-tiled floor below.

    Photography by Pol Viladoms.

  • A bedroom at Ca la Carolina frames a bed against a whitewashed rubble-stone wall, with a slim timber ledge serving as a headboard shelf. A knotted pine door stands ajar, and striped bed linen in soft grey and ochre keeps the palette quiet and pared back.

    Photography by Pol Viladoms.

  • A close view of the Ca la Carolina bedroom rests a small white globe lamp on a tile-topped timber ledge, lit warmly against a whitewashed rubble-stone wall. White pillows and a finely striped throw in cream and grey complete a composition of texture and restraint.

    Photography by Pol Viladoms.

A bathroom at Ca la Carolina lines its walls in glossy grass-green tile, paired with a round terracotta basin set on a knotted pine shelf. A wall-hung toilet, frameless mirror and glazed shower screen complete the room, grounded by a terracotta-tiled floor.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

A wider view of the blue-grey tiled bathroom at Ca la Carolina reveals a glazed shower set beneath the terracotta vault, beside open pine shelves stacked with towels and a white heated rail. The wall-hung sanitaryware and terracotta basin sit above a terracotta floor.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

The attic landing at Ca la Carolina opens onto a south-facing terrace through full-height yellow-framed glazing that captures the Alt Empordà countryside. A whitewashed brick wall meets the terracotta vault and tiled floor, while a curved steel balustrade edges a concrete stair.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

A sitting room at Ca la Carolina sets a grey sofa and a speckled terrazzo drum table against a whitewashed brick wall beneath a terracotta Catalan vault. A monstera softens the corner, while full-height yellow-framed windows with slatted blinds open to the landscape.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

A south-facing terrace at Ca la Carolina is paved in terracotta tile, the adjacent wall screened by yellow slatted blinds over glazing. A folding deck chair with a yellow cushion faces a low metal balustrade, framing the wooded hills and cultivated valley of the Alt Empordà.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.

An aerial view of Ca la Carolina shows the pink and yellow house set against the ruins of a fortified medieval church crowning Rabós. Cypresses punctuate the rooftops, and the saturated render and glazed-tile copings stand out among the surrounding terracotta-pantiled roofs.

Photography by Pol Viladoms.