10k House is the renovation of a 50 m² apartment in Barcelona carried out with a construction budget of only 10,000 euros. The project arises from the challenge of radically transforming the dwelling in order to adapt it to new ways of living and to a greater environmental awareness in the context of the current energy and climate crisis.

The proposal reorganizes the house through thermal gradients instead of the conventional distribution based on rooms and corridors. The spaces are arranged as nested layers, from the coldest to the warmest, taking advantage of internal climatic differences to reduce the need for additional energy and to link program, atmosphere and efficiency.

The built elements are raised on recycled table legs, allowing the free passage of water and electrical installations without the need to cut chases into the walls, thus reducing construction time and cost.

The project minimizes the material palette, using mainly standard MDF panels and local natural sheep’s wool, seeking a balance between cost, structural efficiency and energy performance.

After demolition, new finishes—paint, plaster or tiling—are removed, and a thorough cleaning of floors, walls and ceilings is chosen instead, leaving visible the traces of the previous dwelling and reducing both materials and execution time.

The kitchen and bathroom are placed next to the façades as bright, open spaces conceived for collective uses and without gender associations. Finally, the dwelling is built through dry self-construction: the pieces, previously cut in CNC, are assembled on site with screws following a simple manual, allowing the direct participation of architects and inhabitants.