It is in the Mallorcan mountains, surrounded by thousand-year-old olive trees, that Olive Houses is humbly hidden. An architectural project that seems shaped by the surrounding nature. Yet it is indeed human work, that of the Spanish-Danish duo Mar Plus Ask. Amazed by the tranquility of this landscape, the studio imagined this residence in 2019 to host architects, artists, and writers seeking a refuge of serenity.

Built on the stone foundations of old buildings, Olive Houses is a block of two houses that focuses on the essentials. The decoration is based simply on colored stucco and characterizes each of the houses. The pink tones for one and purple for the other recall the dark side of the olive leaves and create a symbiosis between nature and construction. The Pink House, which houses the bedrooms and baths, embraces the rock formations of the land, making them appear as the only ornamental elements. Here, windows and doors are almost absent, so that our gaze is always on nature. The Purple House, on the other hand, houses the kitchen and toilets and follows the same principles of unity with the intoxicating nature.

Mas Plus Ask imagines Olive Houses as the manifesto of an architecture turned to nature. Preserved and respected, it becomes itself an absolute element to the building, as once was the cave for the first men. 

Louise Conesa