One courtyard, two houses

Jordi Costa — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 06:24:39 +0000

Architects: isla architects Photography: Luís Díaz Díaz Construction Period: 2025 Location: Esporles, Spain

The idea of renovating a mid-terrace home—tucked between a small street and an alley—changed radically when the opportunity arose to purchase the adjacent plot, a long, narrow strip measuring 25 meters long by just 2.5 meters wide, built edge to edge. This allowed for the creation of large openings onto the new courtyard, and the project transformed into an exploration of all possible ways to bring light into the homes: sliding windows flush with the wall exterior, vertical and horizontal pivoting panels, arched French doors, circular skylights, guillotine windows, and liftable panes.

Inside the main house, spaces were opened and reorganized to adapt to the new configuration: an old garage was converted into a living room overlooking the alley, the kitchen was relocated to connect with the courtyard, a large playroom with overhead light was created on the first floor, the bathroom was aligned with the rear façade and given access to an intermediate terrace, and the bedrooms were stacked and connected via new staircases.

In the elongated plot (the “llonganissa”), a tiny guest house was designed, utilizing the full width of the structure. The wall facing the courtyard was opened completely to fit a kitchen that doubles as a “chiringuito”, with a liftable window. On the first floor, a double-height space serves as the bedroom, while the south end is arranged as a linear bathroom between the staircase and the corridor. At the opposite end of the plot, a garage-studio completes the northern edge of the courtyard.

The project’s materiality was distilled to three elements: lime mortar—white and smooth for the interiors, earthy and textured for the façades—green unified carpentry, and a custom Palladian-style floor. Developed locally and specifically for the project, the flooring features subtly mismatched, irregularly placed tiles that unify and bring character to both homes.

Text provided by the architects.

La entrada One courtyard, two houses se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Intergenerational Social Housing

Jordi Costa — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 06:05:25 +0000

Architects: Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera Photography: José Hevia Construction Period: 2024 Location: Esporles, Spain

The project for the Balearic Institute of Housing (IBAVI) is integrated into its urban context, continuing the series of houses with gabled roofs that are arranged in a descending sequence along the streets perpendicular to the Esporles stream, in the municipality of the Mallorcan Sierra de Tramontana. With a constructed area of 1,128 square meters, the set of social housing consists of two volumes that embrace a tree-filled interior patio, which acts as a solar collector in winter and features an open balcony protected from the sun in summer. The main volume, parallel to Ca l’Onclo street, houses eighteen through apartments distributed over three floors, oriented southeast-northwest. The second volume accommodates auxiliary programs: access, vertical communication core, technical installations, concierge, and community spaces (a multipurpose room, a dining room, and a kitchen).

To the north, the construction is compact with thick load-bearing walls where the mass predominates over the openings. In the southern interior patio, there is a porticoed structure providing access to the apartments. The proposal adopts the necessary measures, both in its construction and use, to achieve the 100% reduction in emissions required by Law 7/2021 on climate change and energy transition for future constructions to be carried out from 2050 onwards.

All the apartments are oriented following the direction of the Esporles torrent, which marks the prevailing winds that cross the Sierra de Tramontana. The north facade is dissipative and energy-conserving through a double wall of thermal clay. The south facade is a collector and works with inertia and the glazed gallery. With the proper functioning of the bioclimatic elements, the demand for heating and cooling for the building as a whole is null. Active climate control systems are not required due to the high interior inertia of the apartments, achieving temperature differences of up to 20 degrees between the interior and exterior of the apartment in winter.

Text provided by the architects.

La entrada Intergenerational Social Housing se publicó primero en Global Spaces.

Esporles archivos - Global Spaces

One courtyard, two houses

Intergenerational Social Housing