Architecture is a register of perception; to inhabit a space is to move within its temporal
rhythm, where memory and imagination course through. A poetics of spatial experience.

Son Xotano embodies Mallorca through silence and measured proportion. Its roots extend from the 10th to the 13th centuries, when it was known as the Alqueria de Judí, a name derived from the Arabic yuhudi—“Jewish”—hinting at possible Hebrew ownership during Mallorca’s Muslim era. A nearby landmark, the Pou de Judí, remains a quiet trace of this history. Following the conquest of Mallorca by King James I in 1229, the land passed through several families: Gastón de Bearn; Ramona Adrover; and Ferrer Girbau. By 1685, one of these holdings became the Son Xotano estate under Joan Torres, known as “Xotano,” whose name endures. Prominent Mallorcan families—the Flors, Mulets, Torrents, and later the O’Ryans—cultivated cereals, vineyards, and wine on-site. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ownership shifted to Granada, Crespí de Sóller, and Gestrudis Rossinyol with Lluís Zaforteza Fontes. In 1982, Pedro Ramonell Colom acquired the property, transforming it in 1993 into an agrotourism and equestrian farm while preserving its pastoral vocation.

Built with stone quarried from its own lands, its walls are simple, durable, and attuned to the rhythms of rural life. A seventeenth-century sandstone arch frames the entrance, a silent witness to generations. Additions expanded organically, responding to the needs of each era. The current restoration honors the legacy: original structures have been reinforced with traditional techniques, while contemporary comforts, including lighting, bathrooms, acoustics, and climate control, have been woven in with restraint, using noble local materials such as natural lime, solid pine, reclaimed tiles, and stone floors. Handmade counters of Mallorcan mud echo artisanal practices, binding the project to place and tradition.

Walking its halls today, one senses the centuries. The restoration revealed: walls kept their rough hewn texture, timber preserved its irregularities, and rooms remained deliberately minimal. Every intervention sought to articulate the estate’s original character. Renovations began in 2018 with an extension for the kitchen, restaurant, and pool, followed by the main house. Future plans include a discreet, single-story apartment building near the estate, designed to complement. “Intervention is translation,” Pizà observes. “It’s about bringing the house into contemporary legibility without diminishing its depth or spirit.”

“The first impression,” Pizà reflects, “was a profound sense of calm and quiet. The building’s thick walls, emblematic of Majorcan construction, immerse you in centuries, yet also convey the serenity of Mediterranean proportion.” Clapés adds, “It is an important house, but never ostentatious. Even if past residents were affluent, the atmosphere is modest. Preserving that humility guided every decision in the renovation.”

Clapés and Pizà worked with an ethic of care. Dry stone walls were repaired, original beams stabilized, and the marès sandstone arch cut centuries ago from the estate’s quarry—was reinstated as a defining threshold. The approach emphasized reinforcement rather than replacement: materials retain their irregularities, and the building communicates its age through texture, proportion, and light. Architecture here I understood as clarification of what was already present. “Even modern interventions are grounded in local materials and construction systems that have endured here for centuries,” Pizà notes. Clay, stone, and timber, shaped by local carpenters and stonemasons, serve as living archives. “Guests may not immediately notice every detail, he adds, “but each window, roof, and door reflects the singularity of Son Xotano compared to other towns. Preserving that subtle uniqueness is central to the project.”

Interiors, directed by Virginia Nieto, extend this principle with measured restraint. Material choice —Mallorcan clay, raw pine, brushed metal, woven linen—are deployed for their tactility as much as for visual coherence. Whites and muted earth tones establish a calm, minimal atmosphere. Custom furniture, developed in her studio and executed by local artisans, maintains continuity between structure and use. The result, anchored in the cultural and material context of Mallorca.

Sustainability shaped the decisions too. Crossventilation and natural insulation reduce energy demand, while historic cisterns and dry-stone systems have been reactivated to manage water and regulate temperature. The gardens, designed by Nieto, follow principles of permaculture and local ecology: olive, almond, and carob trees intermingle with lavender, rosemary, and thyme. Restored terraces and channels reinstate the estate’s agricultural intelligence, ensuring its continuity as an ecological organism rather than a static site.

Generations left traces here. The subtle irregularities reveal rhythms of those who lived here, embedding presence into the fabric of the house. Today, Son Xotano endures as a field of experience. An act of imagination, bridging centuries and the present.
Architecture’s quiet, enduring intelligence.