Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

A Pair of Pink and Purple Tiny Houses Take Root in an Idyllic Olive Grove

A Pair of Pink and Purple Tiny Houses Take Root in an Idyllic Olive Grove

Mar Plus Ask designs two dreamy homes that take cues from the storied olive trees on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

For architects Mar Vicens Fuster and Ask Anker Aistrup of Mar Plus Ask, the natural and built landscape is the starting point for any design. "We like intimate spaces that have measured openings to the surroundings, that sculpt [and incorporate] natural light, and that use natural, sensorial materials," Aistrup says.

The architects consider the landscape and then make design choices to weave each building into its context, so that it appears to have always existed on the site. They use local, organic materials that reflect and absorb sunlight, facilitating shadow and light play. "Each piece of architecture will be different if your starting point is the context," Aistrup says. "We study the history, the placement, the vegetation, and the setting sun, so that a building can belong."



The walls, floor, and ceiling of one of the Olive Houses is enveloped in a pale pink tone-the color found on the leaves of the olive trees that dot the landscape.



The bedroom area in the pink house is framed by an arch opening.

Mar Plus Ask’s Olive Houses-a set of micro homes that function as a year-round retreat for architects, artists, and writers in Mallorca, Spain-are no exception. The tiny, 260-square-foot homes aren’t just tied to the natural landscape-they look like they’re part of it.

"High up in the Tramuntana Mountains with views overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the off-grid houses are surrounded in all directions by thousand-year-old olive trees that stand on man-made terraces of dry stacked stone, where only the wind and bells tied to grazing sheep can be heard," Aistrup says.



A fireplace near the bedroom area provides warmth during the winter months.



A massive existing rock formation is embedded into the design, anchoring one corner of the tiny home and tying it to nature.



An outdoor shower built into the stone is located at the rear of the tiny house.

The purple house is wrapped in stucco and equipped with a bathroom, a kitchen with two gas burners, a sink, a wood-fired oven, a table with stools, and a refrigerator powered by solar panels. The pink house, also sided with stucco, features a bed, a shower, and a fireplace.

"We reused an old stone structure for the purple house, which is the complimentary color to the dark side of an olive tree leaf," Fuster says. "Using the existing structure meant that only one new structure was needed."

They built the new pink house into existing terraces, so that it’s practically invisible and partially underground. "Some of the terraces, and most of the olive trees here are over a thousand years old," Fuster says. "The terraces are cut into the hillsides in straight lines with mathematical precision, seemingly unaffected by sharp corners and gorges. Even with today’s machinery, it seems impossible."



A second tiny house is set within an existing structure and contains a kitchen, dining area, and bathroom.



The teak front door of the existing house offsets the stone walls, lending warmth and texture.

At one end of the pink house, a vaulted ceiling dissolves into a large skylight. Beneath the skylight is a shower beside an existing rock formation that the architects incorporated as part of the design.

"When looking at nearby houses, we saw that some were built into sloped mountainsides," Fuster says. "This appealed to us as a [way] to keep the house cool in the summer, but also as a spatial idea. A home that’s half underground and has an open fireplace is somewhat reminiscent of the oldest archetype of man’s first home, a cave."

Water for the shower is provided via a natural spring behind the house, and the building’s pink tone represents the lighter shade found on the matte side of an olive-tree leaf. "Pink covers the walls, floors, and ceilings," Fuster says. "When looking into the landscape, the complementary colors of the olive trees provide an optic effect which becomes more defined, vivid and crisp."



Purple walls contrast with stone masonry and introduce a modern sensibility.



The purple shade on the existing home’s interior walls is another color found on the leaves of the olive trees that grow on the site.



The kitchen window frames views of old-growth olive trees and massive boulders.

The area, rich with olive trees, massive boulders, and views of the Tramuntana Mountains and Mediterranean Sea, is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

"It’s a response to scarcity rather than excess," Aistrup says. "We normally lay out some basic dogmas, and in this case, the first was obvious—we would not touch or cut any olive trees or move any rocks. The Olive Houses blend seamlessly and sensitively into this magical setting. A house not only serves its inhabitants, it belongs and contributes to the city, street, or landscape as a whole."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×