Your
private piece of
paradise

When Mallorquin-born Guillermo first visited the Cap Adriano site with developer Steve Morgan, he saw a unique piece of coastal land; a peninsula in front of the sea with direct sea access and perfect southwest orientation, the location was TOP, quite unique on the island and a very exciting prospect for his studio. Guillermo’s first challenge was the site, which had been destroyed by previous excavations (the sight had been originally earmarked for a hotel) and this meant that apart from the development, the skill of his architectural practice would be to study the re-integration of this sea frontline landscape and its surrounding environment into the coastline once more and to reduce the visual impact from the sea.

After the first site visit, ideas immediately developed of how the project could be; the slope towards the sea and the available length of coastline sparked his imagination and provided an outline layout for the villas on the seafront with the apartments behind providing their own vistas over the sea. The earth on the site had a distinctive deep red clay colour. Comments Guillermo; "this was a starting point for us to complement and enhance this with the materials we used in a palate of natural Mediterranean earth colours to harmonise the look of the development within the site with the overall aim of reintegrating the development into the overall environment of the coastline".

The architectural concept behind Cap Adriano was clear to maximise the potential of the project whilst seeking a balance of construction and landscaping which was important to visualise in terms of the natural recovery of the whole site and landscaping and planting would play a big part in that. All nine villas occupy sea frontline positions with direct sea access and although each villa is different they share the same palate of natural materials that are traditional to the island, and their use was simply re interpreted in a contemporary way. "For example, we took stone from the site excavation itself to create the typical dry stone walls outside and to feature part of the detailing inside the villas. These textures together with the lovely sandy-coloured Santanyí stone from the southeast area of the island were used extensively to provide an authentic feel", comments Guillermo.

The villas are designed around a central courtyard, a traditional Mallorquin feature, and by breaking down the constructed area of the villa into different parts with clever landscaping surrounding each villa, the overall scale of the construction is minimised. The natural planted roofs provide a fundamental green footprint of the entire development, and not only create a natural thermal insulation for each villa but also enhance the views from the apartments that look over green planting towards the sea. "For the apartments our studio adopted a different approach utilising more organic geometry to minimise the visual impact of the height of the building and to avoid having one white solid block, the ground floor is faced with Mallorquin stone. This natural material gives the appearance of another level of earth and reduces the perceived height and blends the building into the environment.

So much detail went into the planning and execution of Cap Adriano right down to the discovery of a protected plant that was found on the site. In order to regenerate the indigenous variety, we contacted the Sóller Botanical Gardens to help us extract the seeds so that we could plant 200 more plants of the same variety along the coastline to help save the species and, at the same time, promote the recovery of the natural environment", explains Guillermo.

Reflecting on what his studio has achieved; "Cap Adriano represented a milestone for us and I am proud of our achievement and the fact that with careful planning, together with the use of local materials and traditional layouts, we have managed to harmonise Cap Adriano into its unique surrounding environment. I firmly believe that its modern Mediterranean-style will remain timeless and elegant for years to come".