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Neuendorf House
A VACATION HOME IN MALLORCA
Surrounded by sea and mountains, this tranquil,
four-bedroomed vacation home on the island of Mallorca
is a welcome retreat from urban life.
Photography by Richard Bryant and Mari Luz Vidal
Neuendorf House, the vacation home of a German
art dealer, was designed between 1987 and 1989 and
completed the following year by renowned architect,
John Pawson. Pawson is known for harnessing nature’s
raw beauty and innate potential, and Neuendorf House
is a perfect example of this. It was created using the
strong reddish orange pigments from the soil to tint the
render. The result is as powerful as it is beautiful. The
earth’s raw color is translated into the graphic refinement
of the building’s forms, from the sun-drenched clay
surface of the sunken tennis court to the building’s
smooth terracotta surfaces. It is light, however, that
is the key material for Pawson. He considers light as
one of the fundamental building blocks of architecture,
citing Le Corbusier’s vision that “architecture is masses
brought together in light”. Color and texture, while also
important, play quieter roles in enriching the sensory
experience for the eye, as well as the hand.
