Located in Granada, Casa Mariola is a single-family residence by Palera Arquitectos that reinterprets the character of an existing home through a contemporary architectural language. Conceived around the memory of the former building, the project retains its essential vertical organization and relationship with the backyard while transforming them to suit the life of a new family. At the heart of the house, a delicate staircase and overhead skylight establish a continuous dialogue between architecture, habitation, and movement, while an unexpected view towards the Alhambra gives the project an intimate connection with Granada’s historic landscape.
In a city where architecture is inseparable from the landscape, and where centuries of history remain embedded in streets, courtyards and distant views, Casa Mariola occupies a particularly interesting position between continuity and change. Completed in 2024, the house replaces the existing building on the site, but its demolition didn’t signify a complete break with the past.
Instead, Palera Arquitectos retained what they describe as its essential character: a vertical house oriented towards the backyard.
The new residence develops this condition through a sequence of levels, making movement between them an important part of the domestic experience.
Rather than treating circulation as merely functional, the project gives the staircase a central architectural presence.
It rises lightly through the structure, anchored by its stringer and railing, while the latter continues upwards through the gaps in the surrounding structure.
This vertical element also establishes a visual relationship with the skylight above.
As the staircase rises, the eye is drawn towards the daylight above, making the journey between floors an experience shaped by light and shadow.
The staircase becomes both connector and spatial marker, giving the house a strong sense of vertical continuity.
The relationship between the interior and the city, however, was not entirely anticipated.
During construction, an unexpected landscape emerged from the roof slab: the Torre de la Vela, one of the defining towers of the Alhambra, appeared against the Granada skyline.
What had initially been an inward-looking relationship with the backyard was suddenly complemented by a distant connection with one of the city’s most emblematic landmarks.
The discovery created an architectural paradox.
Although the view was clearly present, regulations prevented the roof from being made accessible. Rather than allowing the panorama to remain beyond the inhabitants’ reach, the project introduced an unusual solution: an operable skylight positioned above the shower, creating a passage between the interior and the roof.
Its location makes the experience even more surprising. Hidden above the shower, the skylight gives the inhabitants access to the roof and a different view of the city. What first appears to be a simple source of light becomes a small passage towards a remarkable view of Granada.
This unexpected discovery adds another layer to the story of Casa Mariola.
The project began with the memory of a house that had disappeared, yet during its construction it acquired a new memory of its own. The character of the former building survives not through physical preservation, but through the spatial qualities carried into the new design. At the same time, the newly discovered view adds something that could never have belonged to the original house in quite the same way.
Between the backyard and the distant Alhambra, Casa Mariola creates a quiet connection with Granada. Light draws the eye upwards, the staircase connects the different levels, and the skylight opens the house to an unexpected view of the city.
About Palera Arquitectos
Founded in Almería in 2017 by Sergio J. Díaz and Juan M. Caldero, Palera Arquitectos develops projects that place functional space at the centre of the design. Rather than following a fixed style, the studio looks for individual solutions shaped by the context, the site and the needs of each client. For Casa Mariola, the practice collabortated with Ana Rodríguez and Nacho Segura.
Facts & Credits
Project title Casa Mariola
Typology Residential, Interiors
Location Granada, Spain
Built area 150 m2
Completion year 2024
Architecture Palera Arquitectos| Sergio J. Díaz, Juan M. Caldero
Collaborators Ana Rodríguez, Nacho Segura
Photography Adam García