A careful renovation of two historic buildings. Can Santacilia by OHLAB
22/11/2022.
[Palma de Mallorca] Spain
metalocus, DILYANA DRAGOEVA
metalocus, DILYANA DRAGOEVA
Description of project by OHLAB
Can Santacilia is a 3,300sqm residential building with 15 apartments and common areas. It is a careful renovation of two buildings located in the heart of Palma de Mallorca's old town.
In city records dating back to 1576, the main building appears as Can Santacilia, although its origins date back to the 12th or 13th century. Prior to the OHLAB project, the existing building dated back to the 17th century, with a later renovation in the 18th century. It was also renovated during the 20th century to be divided and converted into several dwellings, being significantly modified from its original state. The main courtyard was not preserved in good condition, but the structure deserved to be restored, as well as its main facade at Tagamanent square, which preserves part of the 18th century decor. Therefore, although the building had a history of more than 400 years, it had been largely modified and distorted by the time the firm began the project.
One of the main challenges has been historical responsibility, which involves researching the different interventions over time to discover, recover, and enhance the main architectural elements and spaces. The firm avoided eliminating or concealing alterations that have occurred throughout history in order to recover an ideal past that was not precisely known, opting instead to discover different stages and interventions by recognizing elements of value in each of them.
In order to make the operation efficient, and to integrate the building back into the day-to-day activities of the city, the firm updated its spaces and prepared it for use in the 21st century. On one hand, the building is a modern, comfortable residential building with all the services and facilities required for a contemporary lifestyle. On the other hand, faced with a complex and compartmentalized structure, the firm addressed the challenges of a 17th century façade and volume, protected, extremely rigid, and difficult to modify.
Can Santacilia residential building by OHLAB . Photograph by José Hevia.
OHLAB’s renovation project takes advantage of the complexity of the existing building as a potential to generate unexpected spaces where each dwelling is totally different. The intervention resolves each dwelling with a distribution and individualized and unique solutions, while transforming the entire building into a proposal that bases its uniqueness on the recovery of the historical essence of the building and a commitment to contemporaneity.
At Can Satacilia, special attention has been paid to the selection of natural, noble, local materials, emphasizing the building’s history and Mediterranean essence. A simple palette of natural materials encompasses the entire project, combining the restoration of historical elements such as wood carpentry, stone and wood structural elements, plaster and wood moldings, wooden coffered ceilings, mortar and lime coatings, stone and wood ceramic floors, and wrought ironwork. Along with these natural references, a careful selection of noble materials contrasts, including antique bronze pieces, local stones, mirrored cloths, porcelain details, and local linen and cotton textiles.
The project also recovers the entrance courtyard that had been distorted through previous modifications, restoring the old splendor of an area so deeply rooted in the classic typology of noble dwellings in Palma de Mallorca's old town. The courtyard becomes the main entrance to the heart of the building, and opens onto the landscaped terraces and communal areas, including a gym and an indoor pool with a spa which opens directly onto the courtyard.
A second inner courtyard has been recovered as part of a private home garden, in addition to five terraces for different homes from which you can enjoy views over the rooftops of the city.
Despite the constructive restrictions of a historical renovation in a listed building, the project has been designed from the beginning with sustainability parameters to maximize its energy efficiency, increasing thermal insulation, taking care of thermal bridges throughout its envelope, and using an efficient centralized air conditioning system.
Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver direct OHLAB, an office devoted to urban analysis and cultural research of contemporary society through design, architectural practice and urban strategy. Prior establishing OHLAB in Madrid they gained 9 years of professional experience in New York, Shanghai and Beijing collaborating in prestigious architectural offices such as OMA / Rem Koolhaas.
They received their diploma in Architecture from the ETSAM in Madrid (Paloma), ETSAB in Barcelona (Jaime) and they both hold a postgraduate degree (MSAAD) from Columbia University in New York. Paloma and Jaime are coordinating teachers at IED Design Degree in Madrid, they taught at “La Gran Escala” Master from UPC in Barcelona and have been critics at different design juries at Princeton and Columbia University in New York and at Universidad Europea in Madrid. They have given lectures about their work in various institutions such as Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya, Universidad Europea de Madrid, or Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
In 2010 opened the first exhibition about OHLAB’s work at Magnus Müller Gallery, Berlin and subsequently at the Architecture Museum of Moscow. The exhibition was curated by Tina diCarlo, former curator of architecture and design at the New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
OHLAB has been nominated for the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award 2011 (European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture), has been cataloged for the Arquia Proxima 2010/2011 prize (Fundación Caja de Arquitectos) and was finalist inthe 2010 Saloni Architecture Awards. Recently, OHLAB has also been selected as Finalist for the INTERIOR DESIGN 2012 Best of the Year Awards in New York City.
Paloma Hernaiz received her diploma in Architecture from the ETSAM in Madrid and Master of Science in Adv. Arch. Design degree from Columbia University in New York. Following her diploma she worked in the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London pursuing historical research.
Prior establishing her own office she gained 9 years of professional experience in architectural offices of different countries where she had the opportunity of pursuing projects of very different scales and requirements. In Madrid she collaborated with Estudio Lamela / Richard Rogers Partnership; in New York she was working with G-tects where she collaborated with the office of Frank O. Gehry; in China she worked in Shanghai and Beijing at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).
Jaime Oliver received his diploma in Architecture from the ETSAB in Barcelona (Final Thesis with Honors) and Master of Science in Adv. Arch. Design degree from Columbia University in New York. He studied for a year at the Institut Supérieur d'Architecture CF in Brussels with an Erasmus Grant and he received "La Caixa" Scholarship awarding him a full grant to the Columbia University Postgraduate Program.
Prior establishing his own office he gained 9 years of professional experience in architectural offices of different countries where he had the opportunity of pursuing projects of very different scales and requirements. In New York he collaborated with the offices of DNA and Hariri & Hariri; In China he worked in Shanghai and Beijing at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). He is a PhD candidate at the ETSAB (DEA and pre-thesis approved).