Casa Son Vida is a renovation of a 1960s Mediterranean villa, but it has been turned into an fantastic, sprawling luxury residence, designed to attract the young, discerning and bold, who are confident and design-savvy enough to know what they are looking at.
Casa Son Vida is located in the Balearic Islands off Spain, on the Island of Mallorca, where humans have lived since 6000–4000 BC and where more recently, tourists have over-crowded every beach. But Casa Son Vida avoids the touristy kitsch and aims much higher.
The 8,500 square-foot Casa Son Vida is a cooperation between three powerhouses:
Luxury residential developer Cosmopolitan Estates,
eclectic Dutch designer Marcel Wanders,
and award-winning Los Angeles, Switzerland and Hong Kong-based TecArchitecture.
Project Area: 790 sqm Project Year: 2009 Photographs: Gaelle Le Boulicault
The handiwork of Marcel Wanders is evident everywhere in the Casa that looks a bit like an unruly movie set with its dino-bone exterior staircase, and various bits and pieces that remind you of Tomorrowland, Mickey Mouse, Finding Nemo and, of course, Alice in Wonderland
With its retro synthetic vibe, the house clashes happily with its lush surroundings, but the interior, in its white-dominant serenity is much less startling, although fun and unexpected detail is found in every space. There is absolutely nothing ordinary in this house. Everything is customized, every aspect considered a million times. It is a great example or considered chaos
“Casa Son Vida 1 aims to redefine the notion of the luxury villa by moving most of the paradigms of luxury towards a more contemporary and forward-looking expression of architecture and technology,” explains Sebastian Knorr, tec co-founder and design director. “The project pushes the envelope in every direction and every sense; it is highly sustainable, basically off-the-grid, gives an unheard of sense of space and place, explores new construction technologies, and enters into a critical dialogue with the decorated box buildings in its vicinity. Casa Son Vida 1 is unavoidably exuberant and un- abashedly outrageous.”
Located approximately 15 minutes outside of Palma de Mallorca in an exclusive community called Son Vida, the eponymously named Casa is an example of design poetry in motion. The 8,500 square foot luxury residence transgresses the constraints of site and context, redefining luxury architecture as it is typified by the traditional and prolific Mediterranean and Tuscan styles otherwise found on the island.
This act of defiance is accomplished by creating an entirely new structure that erupts unexpectedly from the walls of the existing Mediterranean home. The new structure evolves into a bold, curvaceous shape that completely evades conventional definition. The idea is that the two pieces co-exist as separate entities, meeting abruptly and then quite literally turning away from each other. Their interaction suggests a chance encounter and speaks to the deliberate and bold juxtaposition of the two elements. The new structure could even be likened to a futuristic spacecraft that has quite literally landed on a typical Mallorcan villa.
Amsterdam-based Marcel Wanders Studio was tapped for the interior design, marking the first full residential project for the international design phenom. With his trademark wit and style, Wanders appoints the interiors with signature furnisthings and refined finishes.
