Houzz Tour: Spanish Island Home With Natural Materials
A house on a working farm reflects the owners’ and architects’ love for the local landscape
Regular Houzz readers may have seen projects by architect Marià Castelló. The house profiled here, called Es Pou after a historical place name on the Spanish island of Formentera, is similar in form and dimensions to other Castelló projects, such as Can Xomeu Rita. He designed this home in collaboration with an architect at his studio, Lorena Ruzafa.
The house, which is divided into three sections, is situated on a rural plot characterized by a centuries-old network of dry stone walls and fields.
“The house is located in the western section of the plot, parallel to a trail that’s more than a kilometer [3,280 feet] long,” Castelló says. “It is oriented toward the south and protected from the setting sun by a mass of vegetation. The owners requested that we keep the most fertile area free for existing agricultural activity.”
Subtle Luxury and Breathtaking Views on a Spanish Island
“The house is located in the western section of the plot, parallel to a trail that’s more than a kilometer [3,280 feet] long,” Castelló says. “It is oriented toward the south and protected from the setting sun by a mass of vegetation. The owners requested that we keep the most fertile area free for existing agricultural activity.”
Subtle Luxury and Breathtaking Views on a Spanish Island
This is not a vacation home: It was designed to be lived in all year. “The farm has belonged to the owner’s family for more than a century. It was once part of a much larger, 100,000-square-meter farm that had belonged to his grandfather. That is how such a young couple, with a limited budget, were able to build this house on Formentera,” he says.
The architect’s deep respect for and knowledge of the surrounding land motivated the huge amount of care put into details and the selection of materials. Together, this gives the interior its character and places the home in dialogue with the environment. In fact, Castelló points out that one of the owners’ requirements was to avoid encroaching on the arable area of the plot “in order to maintain the continuity of the agricultural activity started by his ancestors.”
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The architect’s deep respect for and knowledge of the surrounding land motivated the huge amount of care put into details and the selection of materials. Together, this gives the interior its character and places the home in dialogue with the environment. In fact, Castelló points out that one of the owners’ requirements was to avoid encroaching on the arable area of the plot “in order to maintain the continuity of the agricultural activity started by his ancestors.”
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From the living room and kitchen and over the porch, the home offers deep perspectives over the surrounding fields of wheat and oats.
Outside, the palette is dominated by the warm shades of the earth and the pale green of almond and fig trees.
These colors — so characteristic of Formentera — and the feel of the exterior more generally enter the home in the timeless and subtle combination of wood and ceramics.
“The warmth of the earth is transferred to the ceiling and floors, which were finished with Mallorca-style ceramic vaults and pressed terra cotta tiles, respectively,” Castelló says.
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“The warmth of the earth is transferred to the ceiling and floors, which were finished with Mallorca-style ceramic vaults and pressed terra cotta tiles, respectively,” Castelló says.
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The terra cotta tiles were also used on a number of other features, like the facade cladding and headboard in the master bedroom. Castelló even made use of the offcuts from the installation — on the roof, for example.
A ceramic lattice defines both the entrance and the transition between the night and the day areas.
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Castelló is clear on what he likes most about the house: “the choice of materials and how they impacted the house when it was just finished. Even before we put in curtains and furniture, there was no echo, and the interior had a warm, homey feel.”
There are two bedrooms in the north-facing section. “If I had to choose something that they were particularly excited about, I think it was the day we installed the headboards. They knew we were up to something, but not exactly what it was,” Castelló says.
The coherence and harmony of materials throughout the house reflect the attention the architect paid to all the details. For example, he used white porcelain plugs and switches to fit them in with unique features like the headboard in the master bedroom and more commonplace ones like lamps and bathroom fixtures. A set of lights and special pieces were handmade in the architect’s studio out of formwork specifically for this project.
Most of the furniture was custom designed to fit into the architecture, while iconic pieces, such as the Torres Clavé armchair, and the traditional chairs from Formentera, “pay homage to the Mediterranean artisan tradition.”
Other, more contemporary, pieces such as the table and coffee tables from the D12 collection designed by Marià Castelló and Lorena Ruzafa for the manufacturer Diabla Outdoor, provide a delicate material and chromatic counterpoint.
Other, more contemporary, pieces such as the table and coffee tables from the D12 collection designed by Marià Castelló and Lorena Ruzafa for the manufacturer Diabla Outdoor, provide a delicate material and chromatic counterpoint.
Part of the bathroom walls are finished with pale green vitrified ceramic tiles that match the color of the surrounding vegetation. Light filters in through the ceramic lattice, creating a constant interplay of light and shadow.
It is Castelló and Ruzafa’s respect for and attention to the local environment that sets them apart.
“I believe that the popular wisdom of traditional architecture, developed anonymously over the generations, has produced a lot of solutions and adaptations to the specific environment, which we cannot ignore,” Castelló says. “This knowledge is vital, and we try to take advantage of it in our work. This is not just about local … materials but also about solutions for features like porches, patios, features that filter out light, orientation to catch the prevailing breezes in summer, taking advantage of the surrounding vegetation.”
Castelló says the pandemic has highlighted the value of exterior spaces and the transitions between interior and exterior typical of Mediterranean architecture.
“I believe that the popular wisdom of traditional architecture, developed anonymously over the generations, has produced a lot of solutions and adaptations to the specific environment, which we cannot ignore,” Castelló says. “This knowledge is vital, and we try to take advantage of it in our work. This is not just about local … materials but also about solutions for features like porches, patios, features that filter out light, orientation to catch the prevailing breezes in summer, taking advantage of the surrounding vegetation.”
Castelló says the pandemic has highlighted the value of exterior spaces and the transitions between interior and exterior typical of Mediterranean architecture.
Axonometric rendering
Technical architect: José Luís Velilla Lon
Engineer: Ferran Juan Nicolau
Facility engineer: Javier Colomar Riera
Design team: Lorena Ruzafa and Marga Ferrer
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Technical architect: José Luís Velilla Lon
Engineer: Ferran Juan Nicolau
Facility engineer: Javier Colomar Riera
Design team: Lorena Ruzafa and Marga Ferrer
More on Houzz
Read more stories about homes around the world
Find design and remodeling professionals near you
Shop for home products
House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple in their 30s
Location: Formentera, Spain
Size: 753 square feet (70 square meters) with a 258-square-foot (24-square-meter) porch
Designer: Lorena Ruzafa + Marià Castelló
Contractor: Toni 13
The impetus behind the projects was the desire to create small spaces with porches, Castelló says, and there are clear similarities in the layouts. “In Es Pou, however, we wanted to use ceramics and wood throughout the project, and to fine-tune the details by designing the furniture — over the course of several challenging meetings — and making it by hand in our studio. This includes the lights, in particular those on the headboard in the master bedroom.”
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