2015 - Empelt

Architecture and Art

EMPELT is the transformation of a mid-terrace house in Alaró that understands the extension not as an addition, but as a graft. The new does not impose itself on the existing: it grows from it, activates it, and allows it to evolve. As its name suggests, the intervention enables the house to continue its life by incorporating a new material layer that redefines its section, silhouette, and atmosphere.

Located in the town of Alaró, the house has a shallow depth that allows natural light to pass through the section from façade to façade throughout the day. The intervention takes advantage of this condition to reorganize the space and strengthen the relationship with the views from the upper level, integrating them as an essential part of the domestic experience.

The project materializes in a new floor placed over the existing structure like a wooden box. It is not a conventional addition, but a vertical extension that transforms the house through its section. This new wooden envelope wraps, connects, and unifies, giving scale and character to the whole. From the outside, the extension redefines the house’s silhouette, maintaining a balance between chromatic integration with the surroundings and a clearly recognizable contemporary expression.

The material strategy establishes a precise dialogue between the original stone and the new CLT timber structure. The existing stone is recovered and left exposed at strategic points, consolidating the memory of the place. In contrast, timber appears gradually on the lower floors and culminates on the upper floor as the main material. In this way, the new does not appear abruptly, but progressively enters the existing structure, as if sprouting from within.

On the ground floor, the living room and kitchen-dining area are organized as a single continuous space, crossed by natural light entering from both façades. Cream tones act as a neutral base, allowing the timber - also integrated into the kitchen furniture - to build a warm and serene atmosphere.

On the upper floors, the scale becomes more domestic and intimate. A study and a bedroom occupy the first floor, while on the second floor the main bedroom expands toward the terrace. The balcony is understood as an inhabitable threshold, a direct extension of the interior toward the exterior, where material continuity remains uninterrupted: timber crosses the façade boundary and the ceramic flooring maintains chromatic continuity.

On the new floor, timber forms a continuous envelope under which an autonomous volume is perceived emerging from the neutral base. This body, separated from the faces of the upper box, is defined by the height and the silence of the surrounding space, reinforcing the idea of a piece inserted within a larger structure.

Details consolidate the architectural discourse. Railings and lighter elements are designed with slenderness and precision, accompanying without competing with the main planes. The material palette remains coherent throughout the project, intensifying on the upper floor to generate a more enveloping atmosphere.

The project does not compete with the original house: it activates it from within. Timber does not only construct a new floor, but reinterprets the existing structure, allowing past and present to coexist with clarity and continuity.