In the Majorcan mountains, surrounded by thousand-year-old olive trees, lies The Olive Houses, an architectural project that seems shaped by the surrounding nature. And yet, it is man's work: that of the Spanish-Danish duo mar plus ask. Enchanted by the tranquility of the landscape, the studio imagined this residence in 2019 to welcome architects, artists and writers in search of a serene refuge.

Built on the stone foundations of ancient buildings, Olive Houses is an island of two houses that concentrates on the essentials. The decoration is based simply on colored stucco and characterizes each of the houses. The tones, pink for one and violet for the other, recall the dark side of 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 terrain, making them appear as the only ornamental elements. Here, windows and doors are virtually absent, so that you can look out onto nature at all times. The Purple House, meanwhile, houses the kitchen and toilets and follows the same principles of unity with nature's intoxicating beauty. 

Mar plus ask imagines Olive Houses as the manifesto of an architecture turned towards nature. Preserved and respected, nature itself becomes an absolute element of the building, evoking what caves once were for early man.  

Louise Conesa