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.
