A house that looks small

From the street, Vil·la Emma appears very small, quiet, and peaceful, almost as if it barely exists. In Binibèquer Vell, on a plot that is more open than enclosed with Menorcan wooden barriers, dry stone walls, and low vegetation, the façade facing the dead-end roundabout consists of little more than a discreet door and a white wall that doesn't seek any prominence. There is nothing in this exterior image that betrays what lies beyond. It is a seemingly simple house, deeply rooted in Menorca, that has chosen not to attract attention, not to overwhelm, not to impose itself. And precisely for that reason, from other angles, and especially upon entering, Vil·la Emma surprises.

The plot is almost square, approximately 850 square meters, with a gentle topography and only a small connection to the street. But instead of occupying the site in an orthodox way, aligning the house with the plot's boundaries and reaching the maximum height allowed by regulations, the architects responsible for this project, Pol Jordà and Lluís Jordà, at the helm of SAU Taller de Arquitectura, made a decision as simple as it was unusual: to rotate the house. This seemingly minimal gesture allowed them to orient the house to the south, circumvent neighboring buildings, and open up views of the sea, as well as the sunrise and sunset. It's an intelligent—and far less intrusive—way to gain light, horizon, and spatial quality without increasing the building's volume.

This, too, is a positive aspect: Vil·la Emma is organized on a single, spacious floor of approximately 250 square meters, fragmented into three solid volumes arranged along an east-west axis. These are light, clean, almost primitive structures, built with a great austerity of materials and plastered with white lime mortar, adapting to the slight variations in the terrain's elevation. Each volume of the house accommodates a part of the family's daily life: the first contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms; the second houses the living room and a suite; and the third, more independent, designed as a multipurpose space with a bathroom, is closely connected to the garden and pool and can function as guest accommodation, which is what those who spend as much time as possible each year appreciate.

Among these volumes appears the one that truly gives meaning to this house: the interstitial spaces. These are by no means hallways or simple connections, but rather inhabited porches, covered spaces that can be fully opened thanks to large sliding glass doors. The first interstitial space, the main one, houses the kitchen and dining room, conceived not so much as a central and representative space, but as an intimate, sheltered place, open to the greenery and the living room oriented towards the sunset. The second creates a large exterior porch that stitches the entire house together and blurs the boundaries between inside and outside, one of the goals of life in this house.

Unexpected corners

This sequence of volumes and voids that define Vil·la Emma creates unexpected corners, unusual spaces that don't adhere to a rigid geometry and allow the garden—entirely planted with native, sustainable vegetation—to take center stage within the architecture. From the inside, the house always feels open and expansive; from the outside, however, it remains low, fragmented, and completely respectful of its surroundings.

The materiality reinforces this much-loved idea of ​​conscious simplicity. In the enclosed volumes, there are solid lime walls and ceramic vaulted ceilings; in the porticoed areas, the wood and glass structure appears light and warm. As is typical of projects by SAU Taller de Arquitectura, there is no desire for formalism, nor, in this case, for a literal imitation of traditional Menorcan architecture, but rather a search for the essence of the place: shadow, thickness, controlled light, and a constant connection with the outdoors, which is especially appreciated on an island like Menorca.

Everything in Vil·la Emma is designed to refine the forms and also the experience of living, to provide as little as possible and let the inhabitants of this home bring the colors and life. "If you can make something easy, don't make it difficult," is the mantra that the house seems to repeat at every turn. This home doesn't aspire to be anything more than what it is: a functional, grounded, and tranquil piece of architecture that demonstrates that sometimes, making itself smaller outwardly is a great way to enjoy spacious living.