Super Natural: The Ultimate Mallorcan Villa

At the end of a curving road in the hills high above Palma, one villa is different from all the rest. Its design is state-of-the-art, but instead of standing out in the landscape of Son Vida, known as the “Beverly Hills of Mallorca”, it hunkers down on the mountainside, barely visible from below. Only when you step through the door is its full glory revealed – just as the architects intended. 

“When we first saw the site, it was a lovely area of forest,” says Jaime Oliver, director of OHLAB, an award-winning architecture firm with offices in Mallorca, Madrid and New York, which designed the villa for a family of four. “The owners love nature and the mountains, so together we thought we should build a house that is integrated into the landscape and becomes part of it, rather than imposing an alien structure.”

Crucial to this is the way the villa is orientated. Instead of facing the city, the property has been turned through 180 degrees so it overlooks a protected landscape of forest and mountains. On the inside, you feel enveloped by nature, with views of trees and rocks creating a comforting sense of privacy and escape. The mountainside is even incorporated into the design: its organic shape is presented as sculpture to be viewed through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Completed in 2022 after a three-year build, and offering more than 6,000 square feet of living space, the house is constructed on a series of cantilevered metal platforms that appear to float in mid-air.

The airy rooms are filled with light and the main living spaces open onto terraces, including one with an infinity pool that seems to disappear into the forest. As well as a split-level living room with a sleek suspended fireplace, the villa has a spacious kitchen and separate dining room, four double bedrooms (one with a dressing room), four bathrooms, a laundry room and a garage. 

All the materials were chosen to reflect the surrounding environment, which contributes to the sense of peace. The walls are predominantly terrazzo cladding, made for the villa using recycled crushed rock. “It reflects the colour and texture of the rock on the mountains and looks particularly beautiful in the morning and afternoon, as it filters the light and creates depth and volume,” says Oliver. 

To accentuate its texture, the cladding was cut to create vertical stripes, an effect mirrored in the narrow oak ceiling panels and in the fluted woodwork of the kitchen and dining room. This gives a sense of visual harmony – and imposes a clear design statement. 

The villa is filled with other clever touches, too. In the dining room, where the table is made from Binissalem marble from a nearby quarry, the fluted woodwork hides a minibar that, when opened, reveals a stylish interior of brushed brass. In the kitchen, above the imposing island, hangs the H pendant light, created by Mallorquin designers Contain in collaboration with OHLAB. It casts light precisely onto the entire length of the worktop, as well as upwards. 

Contain, which has a reputation for fusing local materials with artisan craftsmanship and the latest design and technology, is responsible for much of the lighting throughout the villa, including the beautiful hand-blown pendants above the dining table, the slimline bedside lights and the bathroom wall lights, which combine brass with recycled materials. 

The villa is also extremely energy-efficient. It faces southwest, so the sun heats the building during the winter, while welcome summer shade is provided by overhanging roof “canopies”. There are also green roofs planted with local flora. “These keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer,” says Oliver. “They also help the property integrate into its surroundings. It is a house that really looks like it belongs.”