Ca Na Birgit | TEd’A arquitectes

“I want to be old, eternal again, I want to be young again.”

Gilberto Gil y Caetano Veloso

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El Toro is a new development from the eve of Mallorca’s tourist boom. The estate sits on the cliffs of Ses Penyes Rotges, in the Calvià municipality. The main streets run north-south, delimiting the variably sized rectangular plots. The house is on an 800 m2 allotment — roughly 20 x 40 m, facing east-west — looking onto the sea from an imposing cliff. The sea dominates the clear views to the west. The buildings to the left and right of the site only have a three-metre boundary easement, compromising privacy.

On one hand, the house wants to look at the sea while on the other, it must shield itself from the neighbour’s view. The project resolves both issues in a single gesture: two deep walls — the only vertical structural components — are set parallel to the adjacent properties, framing the sea views while providing privacy. The roof leaps from one wall to the other, without any intermediate supports, creating a porch house. The ancient dolmen is reproposed, once again.  

Two vertical supports and a horizontal deck: the walls, thick due to structural requirements, with three interlocked layers of air brick, and a rigid concrete deck that supports the heavy green roof. Weight and inertia.

The size of the bricks defines the dimensions of the house. Their position links the three layers, left exposed in order to texturize the two walls and flaunt their structural nature. In certain points these bricks are rotated to expose their perforations and hide the light in between them. In others they are recessed, allowing to install electrical fixtures over them.

Life settles in beneath this big porch. Two enclosed volumes contain the private functions: bedrooms and bathrooms. Both are formed by the same type of air brick, laid with the perforations set horizontally and vertical running joints. This bricklaying pattern and position is a statement of their non-load-bearing condition. They dress the wall, textile-like. Again, Semper.

The house is a domestic refuge. A cabin, a cave, where one takes shelter and is protected from inclement weather and neighbouring gazes.

Architects: TEd’A arquitectes (Irene Pérez, Jaume Mayol, Toni Ramis, Tomeu Mateu, Giovanni Fenoglio and Magdalena Weiland

Collaborators: Sergi Altarriba (structural design)

Promoter: Birgit Jandl

Location: Av. De la mar, 50. El Toro. Calvià. Mallorca

Surface: 194,33 m2 

Project: 2016 – 2018

Construction: 2018 – 2024