"Battery House" in Mallorca Combines Terracotta Tones and Wooden Details

This family home in Sa Pobla has been designed by Nora Studio to feature terracotta walls, custom-made joinery, and a secluded courtyard complete with a pool.

When brought on to design the project, and given that this is a family home, Nora Studio observed the need to create more useful spaces, while offering a “luxury of emptiness”. They devised a two-part system in which one section of the house contains all the main living quarters – dubbed the “battery” in reference to it giving life to the space – while the other section of the house, a small portion at street level, is left largely empty. “This void is now a wildcard that will be able to flexibly accommodate more public uses,” they add.

At ground level, this void can be opened up from the street through to the private courtyard. On its facade, the architects added a gridded metal door, which allows for ventilation throughout the space, but also creates an aesthetic contrast between the white and terracotta tones used elsewhere. A living room, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom are also located on this level, and a set of stairs leads up to two more bedrooms, another bathroom, and communal spaces that look out onto the courtyard and street level respectively.

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Ricard López

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Ricard López

Throughout, details have been kept simple and natural. The kitchen joinery, for example, is crafted from untreated wood, and tactility is brought through via the textured brickwork. Some areas of the house are complete with wooden floors, while others have a more industrial feel through the use of poured concrete.

Take a look around the space above, and for more design news – check out the furniture pieces that caught our eye at this year’s Collectible fair in Brussels.