Find Casa Palerm on the beautiful Balearic island of Mallorca, located in the Spanish Mediterranean. The area is known for its lavish beach resorts, world-famous beaches, stunning limestone mountains and ancient ruins. This home in Spain designed by OHLAB is an example of an energy-efficient architectural design that doesn’t detract from its stunning surroundings.
The house itself is an extension of an existing hotel in Lloret de Vistalegre, a region in the center of Mallorca that is rich with wide-open countrysides. Near the hotel’s property farmhouse, Casa Palerm functions as a smaller vacation home.
There is one compact, single level making up the house, which is topped with a pitched roof. The entire structure has a width of about six meters with low-cost beams and no columns. This layout not only favors cross-ventilation, natural lighting and thermoregulation of the interior but also provides a parallel layout to take full advantage of the property’s views. The stretching countryside, as well as the Tramuntana Mountains to the north, can be enjoyed from multiple spots in the house.
The living/dining room opens up to a massive porch on both sides, providing excellent ventilation during favorable weather. This panoramic format is built intentionally to have cinematographic proportions of 2.66:1, invoking a feel of being inside an old movie theater. The windows here can be completely hidden in the facade to be opened or closed depending on the season. A wattle (cañizo) pergola on the ceiling expands on both sides to protect the terraces from the hot summer sun and to filter the light and shadows. These energy-efficient choices, paired with the discrete design, help integrate the home into its surrounding environment.
Low-maintenance, drought-resistant Mediterranean plants and deciduous trees make up the garden, providing natural shade and aesthetics. Rainwater is stored in the water-collecting tank under the terrace to be reused for the garden irrigation, toilet tanks and the infinity pool. Natural and local materials, such as the rustic local limestone for the mortar plastering, became essential tools during construction. The home also contains reused ceramic tiles for the roof, local mare stone, sepi wood and artisan cement for the floors and sinks.
This energy-efficient home in Spain has a rainwater-fed infinity pool [Inhabitat]