Residential ArchitectureHousesThis Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (1)

Designed as a collaboration between Norwegian studio Gartnerfuglen and Spanish architect Mariana de Delás, the Grooming Retreat was the “dream” request of a woman who had recently moved back to her hometown in the south of the Spanish island.

Description by Mariana de Delás: Located on a remote agricultural state in southern Mallorca, this structure was the realisation of a dream for the client. Being an urbanite young professional who decided to move back to her hometown to run the family agricultural legacy she asked for a space for grooming, contemplation and delicacy. Sited at the center of a barley field sur-rounded by autochthonous bushes and wild olive trees the wooden tower has a panoramic view meeting the Mediterranean sea and senses at the horizon the lush island of Cabrera.

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (2) The retreat is envisioned as a solemn refuge in where personal-cleansing is acclaimed. Learning from the animal’s benefits from their act of social grooming and focusing mainly on the importance of the cleansing ritual preformed to a horse (before and after riding it), the project intends to regain back the time devoted to one self that modern times has taken away. The conception of a space to take a break from the multitasking contemporary madness by implementing a fortress like structure in where cleansing and individual mental and body hygiene becomes the priority.

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (3)

A man made sanctuary that does not prioritize to shelter from the environment but rather aims to refuge the urbanite from the social order to remind and applause the condi-tions of our indigenous surroundings.
This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (4) Water and breeze conjointly with books and music to reclaim the time we owe ourselves. Mirrors and phenomena to reconnect our minds to our shell.

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (5)

Conceived as a grooming retreat for one person, the wooden tower has a minimal 3×3 footprint providing serenity. The structure, made by local timber frames, elevates the cocoon to have exclusive views whilst giving a sense of translucent privacy to the user. Layers of white mosquito netting frames are interlaced throughout the interior to grant differ-ent opacities for each specific use. To the west, a water tank and a horse station are meticulously connected to the tower by a timber boardwalk, which arises the ritual spirit of the formality of cleansing.

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (6)

For animals, self or social grooming does not only improve their hygiene but its also said that they gain self-confidence, sexual appeal and reduce stress, we believe that by joining corporal self-grooming with beauty, simpleness and ritual we can achieve the same benefits for the modern being.

Project: Grooming Retreat / wooden tower
Architects: Gartnerfuglen and Mariana de Delás
Collaborators: Marie Monsen, Julie Hauge, Suchi Vora, Martin Plante, Nataliya Kuznetsova Chief Carpenters: Sindre Sahlqvist Blakar, Eirik Stormo
Location: Santanyi, Mallorca, Spain
Images courtesy of Gartnerfuglen & Mariana de Delás

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (7)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (8)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (9)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (10)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (11)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (12)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (13)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (14)

This Wooden Tower is a Space for Grooming, Contemplation and Delicacy (15)

Thank you for reading this article!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Madrid Loft – “House Within a House” Inspired by Japanese Architecture

The Madrid Loft project consists in building a house inside of a house, which means that it is more similar to the process of building a single-family house than an interior rehabilitation.

Aldgate East Apartment – Design Led Apartment Living / 2 Lovely Gays

Aldgate East Apartment is an interior design project completed in 2016 by London studio 2 Lovely Gays. Project description: Finding the homely, personal touch in...

Flora House by Sanz & Gradolí Architects

Restoration of a town house overlooking two streets with a minor different in altitude between both. The main façade has been maintained along with the two main bays forming the existing construction, with a new side annex being added to this that contains the rear façade and where the garage is housed.

Taipei Small Apartment by Ganna Studio

The concept of layout in this project is generated from this Chinese character “永”. The arc in the living room is like the last stroke of this word, presenting the dynamic relationship between common areas and private rooms.

Courtyard City Hall by Atelier Starzak Strebicki

Atelier Starzak Strebicki has recently completed Courtyard City Hall, a public space in Poznań, Poland. From the architect: Green oasis, street café, community centre, public...

Recommended Stories