Colourful Quarter in Palma de Mallorca

© Daria Scagliola / MVRDV / © VG Bild Kunst, Bonn 2023
© Daria Scagliola / MVRDV / © VG Bild Kunst, Bonn 2023
© Jannes Linders / MVRDV / © VG Bild Kunst, Bonn 2023
© Daria Scagliola
© Daria Scagliola / MVRDV / © VG Bild Kunst, Bonn 2023

Project Gomila is a micro-urban reconstruction initiative by the owners of the Spanish global footwear brand Camper. When completed, it will provide 60 affordable housing units within seven highly differentiated mixed-use buildings in Palma de Mallorca’s eclectic but downtrodden El Terreno neighbourhood. Ranging in height from two to six storeys, three of the seven buildings are new urban infill constructions, while four are refurbishments of existing buildings, including the adaptive reuse of a 1979 mini-mall by Pere Nicolau. The diversity of Project Gomila’s forms, textures, and colours is conditioned by its chaotic urban context, a staple of Mediterranean vernacular urbanism. Originally consisting of finely grained clusters of low-rise courtyard buildings built by accretion between party walls, the traditional urban fabric underwent a transition toward “bigness” with the arrival of mass tourism, reinforced concrete, and real estate speculation.