Villa Neuendorf in Mallorca, Spain

The dialogue between building and landscape is the central theme of a villa in the south of Mallorca. Like a medieval castle it overlooks the spacious site with such a natural air as if it had always been there. Since Claudio Silvestrin, the architect had earth pigment from this area worked into the plaster, its mainly closed walls are in the same brownish colour as the dry earth of the surrounding environment. A dead-straight narrow path, which is paved with natural stone typical for the region, leads over a stretch of one hundred meters up the slightly rising site towards the building, where a vertical slit Just 83 centimetres wide dramatically cuts through the fa?ade and provides access to the interior. Via this loophole, the visitor enters a courtyard. Whereas as he approached, he was still wondering how many rooms might be included in the imposing villa, now it turns out that the largest part is occupied by a quadratic, external room, which is embodied in the building volume It measures 12 by 12 meters and is certainly not over furnished?only a bench, made of local stone, invites the guest to sit down. On one of the remaining facades of the villa there is a pool that is directly joined to the building and, as a horizontal element like the path, merges the villa with its surroundings.