Spanish architect Joan J Fortuny and studio Alventosa Morell Arquitectes have created 54 social housing units in Inca, Mallorca, wrapped in larch shutters and perforated bricks.
Located on an empty plot at the edge of the town, the project provides socially rented flats for low-income tenants and is designed as a response to its urban context.
Joan J Fortuny and Alventosa Morell Arquitectes have created 54 social housing units in Inca
Architect Fortuny and Alventosa Morell Arquitectes divided the housing across two independent volumes, arranged along a north-south axis.
This axis is designed as an "interior street" filled with communal public space, intended to foster a sense of community while avoiding creating a gated community. The housing is divided across two volumes
The two volumes are unified by facades of timber shutters made from locally sourced larch, which unfold to reveal a series of balconies and terraces.
These shutters are also designed to facilitate cross-ventilation through the building, provide solar protection and resemble local vernacular.
The buildings are wrapped in wooden shutters
"In Mallorca, we have a massive quantity of knowledge and culture to be protected from the wet heat," Fortuny told Dezeen.
"One of the most successful elements is the Mallorquin shutter, or Persiana Mallorquina, which is used in almost 95 per cent of the houses of the rural area," he continued. "For us, the solution was to use something tha...