955 - Casa Mayo | exitprojectes estudi d'arquitectura

Enric Badrinas

955 - Casa Mayo

• Architects

Located on a 700 m² lot on the outskirts of Sabadell, facing a natural area zoned for non-development, this single-family home with 260.00 m² of floor area was born out of a desire to establish a continuous relationship between architecture, nature, and everyday life. The proximity of the landscape becomes the project’s central theme, seeking to blur the boundaries between interior and exterior and to view the garden as a natural extension of the home.
The house draws inspiration from the principles of traditional Mediterranean and island architecture—particularly that of Mallorca, Menorca, and Formentera—reinterpreting them through a contemporary language characterized by precise geometries and essential materials. Rather than merely reproducing vernacular architecture, the project aims to reclaim its spatial and sensory qualities: shade, privacy, the presence of stone, vegetation, water, and a way of living closely connected to the outdoors.

photo_credit Enric Badrinas — Enric Badrinas

The home is organized on two levels that offer varying degrees of privacy. The ground floor is dedicated to communal living and is designed as an open, expansive space, where the kitchen, dining room, and living room flow out onto the porch, into the garden, and toward the pool. The kitchen takes on a central role as a gathering place, reviving that Mediterranean concept in which cooking, eating, conversing, and living outdoors are all part of the same daily ritual. In contrast, the upper level is less densely occupied and houses the private rooms, which face the landscape. A small courtyard, the terrace, and the framed views bring in light, greenery, and a more intimate and contemplative connection with the outdoors.

Materiality plays a fundamental role in the architectural identity of the complex. The walls of Crema Marfil stone, sourced from Alicante, feature a rough, natural finish that evokes the traditional buildings of the islands. Their presence transcends their structural function: they extend into the interior, define outdoor spaces, create privacy, and establish visual sequences that gradually reveal the landscape. In contrast to their solidity, lightweight elements such as the staircase with suspended wooden steps, the wicker fence, and the metal roofs introduce a contemporary counterpoint of lightness and abstraction.

The outdoor space is not conceived as a garden added to the architecture, but rather as an inseparable part of it. Porches, walls, shadows, and vegetation create varying degrees of shelter and openness, generating a gradual transition between the house and nature. The pool, situated in close relation to the interior spaces, incorporates water as both an architectural and sensory element. Its reflections are cast onto the walls, while its horizontal surface establishes a new plane of connection with the landscape. The sequence of house, shade, water, garden, and landscape encapsulates the essence of the project.

Natural light further defines its ever-changing character. Throughout the day, stone, wood, water, and vegetation continuously transform the interior and exterior atmospheres, making the architecture an experience linked to the passage of time and the seasons.
The result is a home that brings the sensations characteristic of Mediterranean island architecture to the urban environment of Sabadell without resorting to a formal reproduction of its models. A house where architecture does not end at its walls but extends into the shade, the water, and the landscape, proposing a way of living in which interior and exterior form part of the same living space.