Sotopinilla: a project by Ignacio de la Vega and Pilar Cano-Lasso, founders of Tini Living, turned into a true manifesto

In the mid-20th century, at the height of modernity, the United States launched a pioneering experience: the Case Study Houses program, promoted by Arts & Architecture magazine and its director John Entenza. Its aim was to rethink domestic living after the war, exploring new ways of inhabiting through clear, economical architectures deeply connected to everyday life. Figures such as Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen offered the world luminous, flexible homes adapted to technological modernity, without losing their human dimension.

The spirit of that initiative—with precedents in Europe—was to show that architecture could be at once experimental and accessible, rigorous and inspired, open to the landscape and engaged with its time. That same spirit is what Ignacio de la Vega and Pilar Cano-Lasso, founders of Tini Living and Delavegacanolasso, reclaim today in Sotopinilla, a project built in Segovia that inaugurates their new Case Study Tini line. A collection of predefined homes designed with the highest architectural standards, far removed from the prefabricated catalogues and aligned with the search for essentiality and clarity that defined the Case Study Houses.

A house that blends into the landscape

With a surface area of 170 m², the main house is set on a terrain of reddish gullies, mature oaks and a marked topography. The architecture proposed by de la Vega and Cano-Lasso draws its inspiration from the very nature of the site, ensuring its integration with the surroundings: “that is why the main dwelling uses a red viroc façade, blending with the tones of the landscape. The whitewashed walls, built on site, generate interior courtyards and transition zones where fig trees and oleanders grow. Local vegetation, fresh and mysterious, that turns every threshold into an experience,” explains Ignacio de la Vega.

Every detail has been designed with special care: a curved wall, created expressly for the project, forms a gentle meadow that protects a pre-existing holm oak. In the midst of the landscape, a small pool appears as an offering for moments of calm and serenity.

The creation of a true home

The choice of materials reflects Tini Living’s philosophy: nobility, permanence and beauty that withstands the passage of time. Inside, pine paneling projects a golden light, while oak and cork floors bring warmth and silence. Everything in Sotopinilla is conceived to create a true refuge, a home that fully honours this concept.

A few metres from the main house, an independent unit serves as a guest room. Its galvanized steel façade mirrors the shifting light of the forest, while its interior, clad in bamboo and oak, offers a compact, warm and welcoming space. A demonstration of how Tini’s industrialized building system can multiply possibilities without losing identity.

The project is completed with design pieces that reinforce its sober and contemporary character: a sofa by Pummba, furniture by Boca Concept, lighting by Faro and the kitchen by Cubro. Each element contributes to the serene and delicate atmosphere that defines Tini Living’s work.

Architecture as a manifesto

Sotopinilla is a project turned into a manifesto: an architecture that celebrates what is essential, that embraces the environment, and that is defined by precision, proportion and light. As in the best examples of the Case Study Houses, this is an experiment in a way of living that looks forward, offering clarity, permanence and respect for natural spaces.

Project: Sotopinilla.

Location: Segovia.

Surface area: 170 m2.

Completion: 2025.
Architecture: Tini Living. Delavegacanolasso.
Architects: Ignacio de la Vega y Pilar Cano-Lasso.

Construction: Tini.

Photography: Paco Marín.

Video: Studio Cafecito.
Source: Tini Living.


Ignacio de la Vega y Pilar Cano-Lasso, fundadores de Tini Living

Ignacio de la Vega and Pilar Cano-Lasso are a couple of architects who have taken architecture beyond studios and classrooms, bringing it into the everyday lives of people and the landscapes they inhabit. Their gaze is set on the essence: creating homes capable of dialoguing with their surroundings, with refined design and a profound sensitivity to sustainability.

In 2016, they founded Tini Living, a project born from the conviction that architecture must be accessible, lightweight, and respectful, without losing a trace of beauty or emotion. The name, a diminutive of tiny, encapsulates a philosophy: the essential is enough when designed with care, intelligence, and love for materials.

Since then, Tini Living has evolved into a pioneering company in high-quality prefabricated homes, made to measure and delivered ready to live in. Their designs, with pure lines and a warm atmosphere, are committed to energy efficiency, dry construction, and the use of certified woods, high-performance glass, and natural finishes. Each module is manufactured in the workshop, reducing environmental impact and optimizing resources, before opening generously to the landscape and blending seamlessly with the place.

Beyond theory, Ignacio and Pilar have made their own life a manifesto: with their son, they live in one of these homes in Valdemorillo, near Madrid. There, surrounded by nature, they experience daily what they propose to their clients: a way of inhabiting in harmony, simple yet sophisticated, where luxury is measured in silence, light, and space.

With Tini Living, they have traced an alternative path for contemporary architecture, where design, sustainability, and quality of life converge on the same horizon.

The trajectory of both architects has shaped this singular vision. Ignacio de la Vega studied at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and from the beginning of his career he was interested in the relationship between industrialized design and landscape. His work combines experimentation with prefabricated systems and precise adaptation to the terrain, exploring how architecture can be light, efficient, and deeply rooted in place.

For her part, Pilar Cano-Lasso studied architecture at Universidad San Pablo CEU, steering her career toward technical management and constructive resolution. Her role at Tini Living is essential: she is responsible for turning concepts into viable systems, fine-tuning the precision of detail and the quality in the execution of each module. In her profile, aesthetic sensitivity and technical rigor converge, ensuring that the homes are not only beautiful but also durable and efficient.

Before founding Tini Living, Ignacio and Pilar had already established their own studio, delavegacanolasso, from which they have developed residential and experimental projects with a personal vision: opening architecture to nature, seeking light as an essential material, and harmonizing the built with the existing. That studio remains active today, working in parallel with Tini Living, and it is from this dual perspective—architectural and entrepreneurial—that they have consolidated a new model of living that combines innovation, technique, and emotion.

Today, Ignacio and Pilar’s work is recognized for its unique blend of delicacy and strength. Their biography tells the story of two architects who, from their university years to their current research, have made sustainability a tangible and everyday practice, and prefabricated housing a fertile ground for the poetry of inhabiting.

Project by Ignacio de la Vega y Pilar Cano-Lasso. Tini Living