Sa Pobla, a historic city in the region of Mallorca in Spain, is vibrant in cultural activity. In one of her lanes is En Bateria, a single-family house, built on an elongated plot between party walls. The house has two floors and a large patio with a garden and pool.

Designed by Nora Studio, an independent and upcoming design firm based in Barcelona, the home is an interesting take on a traditional residence. The firm specialises in residential architecture and this project exemplifies their broadminded approach.

Mariona Sensada, an architect with the firm, explains the vision of the project to STIR, "The purpose of the project was to reflect the way of thinking and living of future tenants. They have decided to follow a totally sincere and transparent idea of life with family and the environment. For this reason, when working on this project we reduced privacy to a minimum. The simplicity and sincerity in both the distribution of space and the materials used needed to shine through.”

Both the ground floor and the first floor share a simple operating scheme. A main bay oriented in the longitudinal direction anchors the home. This space can be opened from the street and also accesses the courtyard. The main bay is accompanied by a second smaller and more compartmentalised bay, divided into pieces that host the different living programs. This second bay acts as the "bateria” or battery" that gives life to the house, serving all of its required functions. Most importantly, it endows the main bay with "the luxury of the emptiness". This void is now a wildcard that will be flexible to accommodate public uses (connecting with the street) and private (with the courtyard), as necessary. In addition, it enlarges the sleeping spaces to a point where the idea of a bedroom as such is diluted on the first floor. The Spanish architecture firm applies this "battery" scheme to the entire house, reaching even the façade.

The Spanish architect remarks, “The project was born in between party walls, which meant that there had to be a definite relation between the main facade and the posterior one. This created a large space which we knew was meant to distribute the various functional requirements. Honouring this preference for open and multipurpose spaces, the circulation on both the ground floor and the first floor is based on two large common areas, to which the private rooms are connected “in a battery”, sometimes separated by sliding doors to increase spatial flexibility. These large spaces have a very simple organisation and, practically, no fixed elements. The first floor can be considered a single space where you can play or live together, but, at the same time, it is designed so that it can be compartmentalised and converted into study or work areas that are attached to the rooms. On the ground floor, the garage becomes a large dining room on celebration days.”

On the south side, where we find the courtyard, a gallery protects the building from direct radiation in summer, creating a chimney that evacuates excess temperature, while in winter it captures as much energy as possible in the form of heat, creating a thermal area that can release hot air at a slower pace, as required by the home. In this way, the home embodies its vision, ‘En Bateria’, or On Battery.

In terms of material in interior design, the home is a symphony of muted tones in mostly exposed thermo-clay blocks, wood and exposed concrete. As the thermo-clay blocks cannot be cut, the use of this material dictated the size and form of the residence as a whole. Sensada further adds, “The conscious choice to leave the thermo-clay exposed required a thorough study of its dimensions and modulation. Virtually no thermo-clay blocks were cut during the process; we avoided breaking the blocks since it is a material that does not respond well to cuts. The steps, doors and windows were modulated in such a way that all the bricks fit together perfectly, an assemblage of all pieces, being mindful of the procured material. Beyond being aware of the thermo-clay modulation, the great complexity of the work lay in finding a way to execute a project where everything is visible, nothing can be covered or fixed later. There was a brutal constructive sincerity, which required a prior study of the solutions before executing them, and a great work of rethinking by the entire team.”

Not only did the home attempt to stay true to its marked material quality, it’s environmental impact and long-term energy performance were important to the architects.

“An essential goal was to be very respectful of the environment, being aware that creating a new home entails an intrinsic energy cost and climate consequence. The desire was that energy consumption once finished should be minimal, so passive solutions were used. The gallery of the posterior façade, using the thermo-clay as a main material was one of many solutions the project included to be more sensible with its carbon footprint. It was indeed a great effort to create a house that felt both homely and warm, and also very exposed and ecologically responsible,” Sensada concludes.

As Sensada herself mentioned, the project is a modern intervention that is aware of its site and surroundings. The structure offers a silent, yet intricate response to the question of the meaning of material in contemporary homes.