Echoes of the landscape: a dialogue between Esporles and the Serra

Concept and setting: the permeable edge

Set on a privileged piece of ground in Esporles, where the plot rises gently above street level, the house is conceived as a natural hinge between the urban fabric and the countryside. The project declines to impose itself on the landscape; instead it acts as a permeable filter in constant dialogue with the vegetation and with the commanding topography of the Serra de Tramuntana. The volumes break apart and articulate not only to answer the requirements of the brief, but to safeguard and embrace the existing trees, making nature the organising spine of the project and so reinforcing the intrinsic identity of the site.

Material and tectonics: a contemporary austerity

The formal proposal turns away from artifice to embrace a deep constructive and geometric austerity, producing an architecture that is timeless, highly durable and undemanding to maintain. It is a reclaiming of the traditional Mallorcan system, distilled through a contemporary lens. The use of noble materials rooted in the island, such as marés sandstone and ceramic, lets the façades breathe and take on the dignity of the patina of time. This raw, honest material palette seeks to blend the intervention into the colours of Esporles, embedding the project in its historical and cultural context.

Spatial sequence and massing

The articulation of the volumes sets up a play of contrasts: while certain spaces fold in on themselves in search of introversion, intimacy and refuge, others open out emphatically, framing the views towards the Serra and dissolving the boundary between inside and outside. The brief is layered, logically and respectfully, over three levels.

The base, at basement level, is conceived as the point of anchorage to the ground: it holds the logistical needs — parking, storage and plant room — and frees the upper floors for living.

The fluid plane, at ground level, is the heart of the house. A continuous, public space holding the daytime areas and a guest bedroom. Its design maximises permeability, letting the garden and the existing trees flow inside.

The lookout, on the upper floor, rises above the whole as a contemporary tower and holds the main bedroom. It works as an elevated refuge, a place of contemplation designed to pause, to stay and to take in the privileged views of the Mallorcan landscape.

Author

Mcatecnics

Photography

Alejandro Cañellas

Location

Esporles, Mallorca

Date

2024