“Ca’n Terra is a hybrid of landscape and architecture,” says Antón García-Abril. The architect and his wife Débora Mesa, also an architect, were sailing in the Mediterranean with their four children five years ago when they discovered the abandoned quarry for sale on Mallorca’s sister island of Menorca. The founders of the multiple award-winning architectural office Ensamble Studio, with offices in Madrid and Boston, recognized the potential of the location. “We felt we could transform this place into something wonderful. Even if we didn’t immediately have an idea what it could be.” The quarry, in which the famous Mares limestone was mined, which served as a typical building material all over the Balearic Islands, had been left to its own devices for decades after being used, served as a Rubble storage area and animals as a shelter.
They christened the project Ca’n Terra – which translated from Catalan into German means “house of the earth”. “The name is more metaphorical, because it’s not a residential building. Our stays here are more camping-esque,” explains Antón García-Abril.
After the purchase, the first thing to do was to measure the dark and confusing rooms using a laser scan, then to create plans and a three-dimensional model. The architects and their team proceeded like researchers and discoverers. The cave-like structure measures 4,000 square meters and some of its rooms are as high as a church nave. “The dimensions are those of a palace,” says García-Abril, who also teaches at the architecture department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston (USA). An underground Brutalist palace, of industrial origin, whose parallelepiped niches and ledges recall its origins, as do the cuts and chisel marks on its walls.
The underground palace was cleared of earth, rubbish and rubble – with excavators, shovels and brooms. Cubic meter by cubic meter was brought to light. The stone walls, covered with decades-old dirt and partly overgrown with greenish algae, were cleaned with high-pressure cleaners and have since displayed the typical light Mares tone again. Six chimneys were already in place for ventilation, three were cut further to secure them and direct light inside. This is how what the couple calls the “secret garden” came into being: the cut block of rock ended up inside along with a tree. It was left in place, the tree continues to grow.
The Ensamble masterminds’ plan was to make Ca’n Terra livable with minimal intervention. The floors are not cast in concrete, but leveled with a compacted mixture of quarry soil and cement. Instead of walls, semi-transparent walls made of metal grids covered with thick foil separate the inside and outside from each other, let light into the inner rooms and at the same time protect against dust and intruders such as pigeons. Some of these walls can be opened like garage doors, letting in light and heat, because the temperature in the underground palace is constantly between 17 and 20 degrees. Solar panels provide electricity, other amenities are missing. Just camping.
There are just as few rooms that are assigned a clearly defined function as there is conventional furniture. A fireplace, a permanently installed table that seems to grow out of the ground and has sculptural qualities, are the only signs that it is a dwelling. Rectangular cushions serve as armchairs, lounges or beds, and hammocks can be stretched between stone columns. The four children of the architect couple love the quarry, for them it is a huge adventure playground – with a breathtaking pool. “A natural rainwater basin,” as Antón García-Abril points out. For the ensamble team, which also comes to Menorca regularly, Ca’n Terra, which is constantly changing, remains a place of inspiration – and a field for experimentation.
