At Pensando en blanco, we approach interior architecture through material and construction systems. Comfort, durability, and a healthy indoor environment are decided on site: thicknesses, junctions, curing time, and layer compatibility. HEMP has its own section because at Pensando en blanco™ we treat it as an on-site construction system: specified in the project, resolved down to detail, controlled during execution, and proven in built spaces.
HEMP: an enclosure that regulates comfort.
Applied bioconstruction, with method and built work.
We work from a HEMP construction base (hemp + lime + water), executed with controlled compaction and curing. Depending on the project, the system can also be built using traditional brick, while keeping the same standards for comfort, durability, and detailing. HEMP is a demanding construction system: it requires craft, control, and real curing times. We work with a hemp–lime mix—water and mineral adjustments depending on the case—applied through manual ramming in layers to build thick, stable enclosures with consistent performance.
The project is defined through technical decisions: structural junctions, continuity of layers, openings, plinths, service routes, and compatible finishes. When the system is properly resolved, performance is felt in everyday use: a more stable temperature, better-managed indoor humidity, and a more contained acoustic atmosphere. Material builds climate.
Performance:
• Hygrothermal & humidity: performance depends on mix design, density, thickness, ventilation, and junction detailing.
• Acoustics & calm: results improve when the enclosure is designed as a continuous system (perimeters and openings resolved with precision).
• Environmental impact: outcomes depend on binder choice, mix proportions, and the full envelope system; decisions are made from verifiable criteria.
Technical notes:
• Technique: manual ramming (monolithic panels)
• Base mix: HEMP + lime + water (+ minerals depending on project)
• Site control: mix proportions, compaction, moisture, and curing times
• Critical detailing: structural junctions, openings, plinths, services, and compatible finishes
• Typologies: home, studio, and work / retail spaces
• Our role: design, detailing, site direction, and execution control
HEMP Properties:
• Great thermal and acoustic insulator.
• Its insulating properties allow for significant energetic efficiency and savings.
• Lightweight, fire-resistant, and highly breathable.
• Microbe and insect resistant.
• Capable of absorbing and synthesizing carbon and mitigating contamination through reduction of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.
• Because its production destroys more CO2 than it generates, it is considered a carbon negative material.
• During the construction process, it reduces polluting emissions and guarantees a healthy environment inside the home.
• It absorbs humidity, which makes it mold resistant (1m2 of hemp wall absorbs up to 14 liters of water that is then released).
• Naturally non-toxic.
• Lasts for hundreds of years.
• After its vital cycle, it decomposes naturally or can be fully recycled.
PROJECTS (BUILT WORK)
ABASOTAS — BIO ARCHITECTURE HOME & FOOD STUDIO
Abasotas is a multifunctional project born from a single idea: to materialize a space where personal and professional life find balance in one place. A former carpentry workshop has been fully renovated to create a flexible ecosystem in which the home becomes a studio, the studio turns into a shop, and the shop comes alive as a bakery workshop and café.
PEN STUDIO — BIO ARCHITECTURE CONCEPT SPACE
Throughout over twenty years a body of work has been formed based on the objective of simplifying spaces and createing wellbeing both for the sight and the body. The ongoing idea has been to refine by thoroughly cutting out until what is left cannot be improved by further reduction. This way we achieve harmonious spaces where the main experience is determined by the warmth of light, the materials and the proportions.
PEN HOUSE — BIO ARCHITECTURE HOME
This is a unique place in contact with all the natural elements that surround it. It’s composed of two blocs that come together in an L shape: the main volume belongs to the house while the second one is a half-buried studio with a vegetable cover. The refurbishing brings the space into the natural environment following the key principle to achieve an honest construction in which the materials used outside are an invitation to discover the materials used inside.
