Parapimi: the house that longed to climb into the trees

Set on a rugged slope of yellow sandstone and surrounded by native vegetation, the Parapimi house rests with radical delicacy. The project, a collaboration between architects Alfonso Mollinedo and Isabel Rus, is located in the Pinar de Oromana area of Alcalá de Guadaira (Seville). Suspended amid the trees — three Pinus pinea, one Schinus molle (false pepper), one Melia azedarach (chinaberry), and a Jacaranda mimosifolia — the architecture grows from this arboreal gesture, developing an organic, cellular construction system that breathes with the rhythm of the landscape.

The design is deeply rooted in the site, deliberately avoiding visual appropriation and aiming for genuine bioclimatic sustainability. The house is structured in three levels: the base, the tree canopy, and the eagle’s nest. Each level, increasingly lighter and more introspective, invites reflection on the body’s place within the natural world.

Access begins at a lower platform connected to the garden. From there, an elevated walkway — the home’s only point of contact with the terrain — leads to the second level, where everyday life unfolds in connection with the treetops. The house floats above the ground, reinforcing a respectful relationship with its surroundings. A movable staircase leads to the third level: a minimalist volume designed for contemplation, work, and reflection, which also provides access to the roof garden, equipped with planting beds and solar panels.

The choice of materials reinforces this ethos: sandstone walls built from the site’s own excavated rock, eco-engineered wood cladding, and slatted façades made from rice husks bonded with natural resins. Courtyards generate cross-ventilation, and the house includes a natural pool along with water harvesting and reuse systems. The result is an architecture that is porous, light, almost vegetal.

Parapimi is not just a house in the trees. It is an architecture that speaks to its place through sensitivity and technique, offering a new way of living: more mindful, lighter, and more respectful.

Project: Parapimi.
Architecture: Alfonso Mollinedo Sáenz e Isabel Rus Pezzi.
Collaborators: Pedro Lozano, Roberto Gálvez.
Technical architects: Enrique Lacave, Alejandro Castro.
Builder: Zambracón.
Plot area: 869 m².
Built area: 254 m².
Completion: 2024.
Photography: Rafaela Rodriguez.

Alfonso Mollinedo

Trained as an architect at the Higher Technical School of Architecture in Seville, Alfonso Mollinedo Sáenz has spent more than 25 years shaping a practice rooted in sustainability, landscape, and the emotional dimension of architecture. His career combines a strong technical foundation — with master’s studies in Sustainability and Energy Efficiency, training in Textile Architecture and Project Management — with a refined sensibility developed through decades of interdisciplinary and collaborative work.

Throughout his trajectory, he has contributed to collectives that explore new ways of shaping the city and landscape, such as CLM arquitectos, Comuna Creativa, NON arquitectura, and ANDA arquitectura. In 2019, he founded his own studio, Mollinedo Arquitectura, a platform for projects that engage with their surroundings through constructive honesty and bioclimatic thinking.

At the heart of his work lies the belief that architecture is not merely a technical or formal exercise but a means to connect people, memory, and place. His projects — notably the Edificio Célula, a student residence awarded the International Iconic Award in 2019 and the Andrés de Vandelvira Prize in 2020 — blend technological innovation with a profound respect for materials and local processes.

Mollinedo approaches each intervention as an opportunity to imagine possible futures by engaging with the past. For him, sustainability is not an added layer, but an active tool embedded from the very genesis of the project. This vision results in a living, permeable architecture that adapts to its context rather than imposing upon it.

With the support of advanced methodologies such as BIM modeling, his studio proposes integrated solutions that account for energy flows and social dynamics alike, always striving for the lightest footprint and the greatest poetic resonance. As he puts it: “Architecture must flow with its surroundings, transcending mere functionality to become a catalyst for connection and emotion.”

Isabel Rus Pezzi

Isabel Rus Pezzi graduated as an architect from the ETSAS in 1991 and holds a diploma in Business Management. Founder of the studio Lisabesur Arquitectos, she has devoted over three decades to developing projects that integrate architecture, urbanism, and landscape with an eco-sensitive outlook.

A specialist in both renovation and new construction, her work is defined by its attention to context, the use of native vegetation, and the application of bioclimatic design principles. Her studio supports both private clients and fellow professionals, aiming for each intervention to generate a new landscape in balance with its surroundings.

Source: Alfonso Mollinedo, Isabel Rus.

Project by Alfonso Mollinedo