Villa Boscana

Location: Son Vida, Palma

Architect: Osvaldo Luppi Architects

Material: Concrete, Steel & Wood

Design date: 2011

Completion date: 2013

Built area: 800m²

Architect: OLARQ Osvaldo

Photographer: Mauricio Fuertes

Story:

Text provided by the architects:

The form must be forceful. If not, it’s not formed.A double-story volume of exposed concrete is embedded in the rock generating a cantilever that occupies a whole floor in the form of a wooden base. Grey concrete, natural wood, black metal, water, rocks, and vegetation are the only elements. The crystal pool seems to float in the same water it contains. There are no windows, just the absence of walls.

The house is set on a very steep land in a consolidated residential neighborhood with views to the bay of Palma. The project maximizes the views and protects the inhabitants from the gazes of neighbors so that one can see without being seen.

The concrete formwork has been made with phenolic panels. Pine boards of 12.5 cm high and two-variable thicknesses were nailed to those panels. A 1-meter high module was formed consisting of 8 12.5 cm high boards with alternating thicknesses. This repetition allowed rapid execution and re-use of the formwork. The random but repetitive arrangement of the different thicknesses creates shadows that break with the idea of the repetitive module. The whole house has been concreted without a single vertical concrete joint. The horizontal joints have been made to coincide with boards of different thicknesses, so they are practically invisible.

The building is divided into 3 floors. Access floor consists of parking spaces/garages, entrance hall, master bedroom. The public floor includes a living room, kitchen, dining room, covered terrace, and Private floor places bedrooms, indoor pool, sauna, and technical dependencies. Through high ceilings and large windows, fluid space is barely delimited.

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