You’d Never Know This Madrid Townhome Has Four Green Spaces

Since moving to central Madrid in 2011, José de la Vega and Jacqueline Hellman had had three kids while balancing hectic careers: Jacqueline is a university professor and José, a business consultant. Ready to slow things down, in the mid-2010s they moved to Encinar de los Reyes, a ’50s development in the northern part of town. It offered the peace and quiet they were looking for, with a garden looking out onto empty land. Then a four-story building went up next door. "The natural light changed dramatically, and the sense of privacy that had been one of the house’s defining qualities disappeared," says José.

Missing their privacy, the couple began thinking about creating a new home that felt like a retreat, one that had, as Jacqueline describes it, a certain soul. "We are two very different people with one thing very much in common," says Jacqueline. "We genuinely enjoy being at home. We like spending time with our children, cooking, reading, having friends over, and finding excuses not to leave the house on a Sunday." The couple decided to purchase a parcel in another neighborhood in northern Madrid with two other families, and turned to José’s brother and sister-in-law, Ignacio de la Vega and Pilar Cano-Lasso, who run the architecture firm Delavegacanolasso, to design a set of three town homes.

While José and Jacqueline liked their new neighborhood, the architects didn’t share their enthusiasm, describing it as unwalkable, with narrow streets and little greenery. "It’s unpleasant to be there. You wouldn’t go for a walk," says de la Vega. That led to the idea of creating a block of introverted homes that is closed to the street, with minimal windows, instead opening inward with green spaces and living areas that connect with them.