Architects: Feina Studio     Photography: Luís Díaz Díaz     Construction Period:  2023     Location:  Palma de Mallorca, Spain

The Split house is located in a low and dense neighbourhood of the city of Palma, with predominant row houses with patios. The area was built to accommodate the workforce of the local industries of the early 20th century.

MONUMENTALITY
Workforce are documented in the region of thousands, defining an industrial zone within the city fabric. Accommodating such a large workforce required a large housing solution, as the migration from the countryside to the city was already beginning. Simple row houses were the common solution, but the area is also dotted with a typology of bourgeois villas for foremen and business owners. With their monumental proportions and ornate façades, they often involved local artisans to recreate the sense of urban palaces, where elevated living stepped out of the ordinary.
The Split house aims to contribute to this network of monumental buildings, through the language of the façade and urban proportions.

ADAPTATION
The topography of the entire area slopes continuously towards the sea, having to deal with level changes within the plot. There is a drop of 1.4 m from the street to the rear façade. The Split House progressively adapts to this level condition by stepping the ground floor, with a series of platforms of different levels, like a descending promenade, connecting the main street with the courtyard. This section is mirrored on the upper floor, composing two different levels that “split” the house, creating new facades where the light from the south is brought inside.

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