L31

L31 is an exercise in architectural acupuncture in the historic heart of Benalmádena. A 1940s house, marked by the passage of time, is transformed without losing its essence, through a precise intervention that preserves its presence while reinterpreting it from a contemporary perspective. The project starts with a simple but powerful idea: to rebuild without erasing. The old roof is removed, leaving the original façade standing , a skin that retains the traces of demolition, the outlines of its openings, and the weight of its history. It is not restored, but accepted in its condition as a ruin, a fragment suspended between past and present. Behind this “half-ruined” façade, a new cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure rises, light and sustainable, resolving the first floor and attic by resting on the solid pre-existing base. This new, set-back, and discreet body does not seek to impose itself, but to disappear, shielded behind a dense layer of vegetation that colonizes the intermediate terrace. Between old and new emerges an unexpected space: a small elevated garden, a “controlled forest” that filters light, protects privacy, and acts as a climatic buffer. The new façade, a continuous plane of glass, floods the interior with natural light and contrasts with the roughness of the original wall. In this way, transparency dialogues with imperfection, and architecture becomes an act of respect: inhabiting the ruin without reconstructing it, giving life to what seemed destined to disappear.