New centrality through diversity. Project Gomila by MVRDV + GRAS Reynés Arquitectos
21/12/2022.
[Palma de Mallorca] Spain
metalocus, DILYANA DRAGOEVA
metalocus, DILYANA DRAGOEVA
Description of project by MVRDV y GRAS Reynés Arquitectos
The construction of the first five out of the seven buildings that make up Project Gomila in Palma de Mallorca is complete. Designed by MVRDV and GRAS Reynés Arquitectos, Project Gomila is a collection of buildings, each with its own individual character derived from their colours, materials, and rooflines, that is transforming the area around Plaza Gomila in the neighbourhood of El Terreno. Adding a total of 60 new dwellings of various sizes and types, as well as new commercial spaces, after one phase Project Gomila is already well on the way to reviving El Terreno as a vibrant, green, sustainable residential neighbourhood.
Centred around Plaza Gomila, close to the city’s harbour, El Terreno is a historic neighbourhood of Palma that in the ‘60s and ‘70s was known for its nightlife, with famous performances by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, and Tom Jones in its bohemian nightclubs. After a long period of neglect and decline, the Fluxà Family, owners of the Mallorca-based Camper shoe brand, purchased a series of neighbouring plots around the Plaza, initiating a renewal plan that echoed Camper’s philosophy of combining heritage with innovation and creativity.
The five buildings completed in phase one include the Gomila Center, which forms the heart of the neighbourhood. A renovation of a 1979 design by architect Pere Nicolau, on the ground floor this white building features a spacious patio, with a restaurant, office spaces, and apartments rising around this central feature in a series of stepping terraces and balconies. Next to the Gomila Centre are the red townhouses known as Las Casitas, which are topped by a landscape of rooftop terraces allowing neighbouring residents to socialise together.
On the other side of the Gomila Center, located on a prominent street corner, is Las Fabri-Casas, a set of row houses with a saw-tooth roof completed with blue ceramic façades. Tucked behind this is a low-carbon apartment building constructed of compressed earth blocks, with a communal rooftop swimming pool that offers views towards the nearby Bellver Castle. Finally, across the street on the Plaza Gomila itself is the green building La Plaza, a transformation of an existing building that hosts a revival of the historic bar Bellver, offices, and a communal rooftop with views of the bay and the cathedral.
Project Gomila by MVRDV + GRAS Reynés Arquitectos. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
The Gomila buildings are energy neutral, using many of the same principles developed for the Passivhaus standard including high thermal efficiency and passive climate control measures such as shutters and cross ventilation to reduce energy needs. To utilise the many sun hours of Mallorca, the rooftops host solar panels while heat recovery systems further reduce the buildings’ energy consumption. Many of the materials have been sourced locally, reducing the carbon produced by the construction.
“Project Gomila is an exciting architectural project – each of the seven buildings can stand alone as its own individual design, and yet at the same time they are also carefully considered as an ensemble that gives Gomila a fresh boost. When looked at together, you see a colourful collection of buildings that still somehow work together as a group.”
MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs.
“In terms of urbanism, the concept revolves around the diversity of the buildings. Where some of the designs are more suited to family homes, others are more suited for apartments for singles or couples; where some buildings are fully residential, others bring commercial functions into the mix. This diversity of people and spaces will help bring back El Terreno’s lost vibrancy.”
MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.
“The Gomila Project activates a new centrality in Palma, a new meeting and reference point not just for the people in the neighbourhood, but for all the citizens. The project has been very well received, bringing back good memories that Palmesanos had of the area”
Guillermo Reynés, founder of GRAS Reynés Arquitectos
The following phases of the project will add two further buildings to the ensemble: the yellow Casa Virginia, and a small villa next to the Gomila Center, both renovations of existing neighbourhood buildings.
MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The practice engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A highly collaborative, research-based design method involves clients, stakeholders and experts from a wide range of fields from early on in the creative process. The results are exemplary, outspoken projects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.
The products of MVRDV’s unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions. Built projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover; the Market Hall, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam; the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in Paris’ first eco-district; Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven; the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam; the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan; the Unterföhring office campus near Munich; the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam; the Ypenburg housing and urban plan in The Hague; the Didden Village rooftop housing extension in Rotterdam; the music centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven; the Gyre boutique shopping center in Tokyo; a public library in Spijkenisse; an international bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway; and the iconic Mirador and Celosia housing in Madrid.
Current projects include a variety of housing projects in the Netherlands, France, China, India, and other countries; a community centre in Copenhagen and a cultural complex in Roskilde, Denmark, a public art depot in Rotterdam, the transformation of a mixed use building in central Paris, an office complex in Shanghai, and a commercial centre in Beijing, and the renovation of an office building in Hong Kong. MVRDV is also working on large scale urban masterplans in Bordeaux and Caen, France and the masterplan for an eco-city in Logroño, Spain. Larger scale visions for the future of greater Paris, greater Oslo, and the doubling in size of the Dutch new town Almere are also in development.
MVRDV first published a manifesto of its work and ideas in FARMAX (1998), followed by MetaCity/Datatown (1999), Costa Iberica (2000), Regionmaker (2002), 5 Minutes City (2003), KM3 (2005), Spacefighter (2007) and Skycar City (2007), and more recently The Vertical Village (with The Why Factory, 2012) and the firm’s first monograph of built works MVRDV Buildings (2013). MVRDV deals with issues ranging from global sustainability in large scale studies such as Pig City, to small, pragmatic architectural solutions for devastated areas such as New Orleans.
The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. One hundred architects, designers and urbanists develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process which involves rigorous technical and creative investigation. MVRDV works with BIM and has official in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors.
Together with Delft University of Technology, MVRDV runs The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute providing an agenda for architecture and urbanism by envisioning the city of the future.
GRAS. Guillermo Reynes Architecture Studio is an office based in Palma de Mallorca with a satellite office in Madrid. The company produces designs in the fields of architecture and urban design. A wide range of projects are under the design at the moment: from housing complexes, office buildings and hotels to masterplans; In Spain and abroad. Collaboration and multi-disciplinarity are a must in GRAS designs. Since the beginning GRAS has gained a reputation as an innovative company by winning a number of high-profile projects and prices.