Ses Veles Puigpunyent: Building Tradition and Passive Strategies for Low-Impact Public Housing in Mallorca

Abstract

Located in Puigpunyent, at the foot of the Sierra de Tramuntana (Mallorca), the Ses Veles Puigpunyent flats have shown how in public housing there can also be room for research in the fields of materials, climate behavior, and construction. Commissioned by the IBAVI institute and designed by Joan Fortuny and Alventosa Morell Arquitectes, the project combines local materials, traditional building systems, and passive strategies to minimize environmental impact without forsaking the island’s building culture. Cyclopean walls built with stones dug from the site, a Trombe roof reinterpreted in vernacular style, and a hybrid construction system based on local tradition but suited to today’s needs have produced a nearly-zero energy building (NZEB). Technical innovation, circularity, and tradition are thereby conjoined in a single architectural rationale.