Casa de possessió (Mallorcan country estate house) — Vernacular architecture in Mallorca

What is

The possessió is the great Majorcan rural estate. Its houses of possession are the small built nucleus that governs it: housing, warehouses, stables and workshops. It is equivalent to the Catalan mas or the Menorcan lloc.

##Com works

A small town. Everything that the farm produces is transformed and stored there: oil in the tafona, wine in the celler, flour in the sang mill, livestock in sestadors and stables.
Patio that tidies up. The bodies are grouped around the clastra : it gives light, collects water, distributes access and protects.
Sober and compact volume. Geometric order in plan, volume and openings (TFG UB, 2014). Thick stone walls: thermal inertia, few openings to the north.
Defense. The estates near the coast add a tower (Son Marroig, Son Fortesa, Canyamel). See defense towers .
Water. Aljub, safareig and siquies are part of the group ( aljubs ). Raixa has the largest safareig in Mallorca (100 × 17 × 7 m, according to Viquipèdia).

Elements and vocabulary

cases (the built nucleus), casa dels senyors, casa de l'amo
clastra (patio), tafona (oil mill), celler, molí de sang, capella, tower
sestador (corral to rest cattle), stable, boal, coal shed, cellar
People: senyor, master (tenant who manages), madona (master's wife, with organizational functions), missatges (regular workers), day laborers, mitgers
son + surname: prefix of many possessió names since the 16th century. XVI (Son Marroig, Son Real…)

History

Origin: the distribution of lands after the Catalan conquest of 1229, based on the Islamic farmsteads.
Since the s. XVI the Arabic names (alqueria, rafal) give way to "Son + owner."
Models according to era and owner: fortified (Son Marroig, Canyamel), baroque palace (Alfàbia, La Granja), neoclassical (Raixa).
It was the key piece of the traditional agricultural and livestock economy.

On veure'n

Raixa (Bunyola): public; It houses the Center Serra de Tramuntana del Consell (inaugurated Oct. 2021, design by Dani Freixes). Tues-Sat 10am-3pm.
Jardins d'Alfàbia (Bunyola): visitable.
La Granja (Esporles), Son Marroig (Deià): visitable (schedules to be verified).
Els Calderers (Sant Joan), house-museum (to be verified).
Public estates of the Serra (Son Moragues, Planícia, Galatzó…): see serradetramuntana.net .

Stat

Raixa: BIC (1993/1994; sources differ).
Many possessions are private; conversion to agrotourism or hotel. The risk is losing the productive use and logic of the set (tafona, era, sestadors) under the decoration.
The Serra de Tramuntana is World Heritage (cultural landscape, 06/29/2011): UNESCO expressly cites the possessions as a landscape management unit (criterion II).

Why is it design

The possessió is a system, not a building: each piece responds to a process (grinding, pressing, storing, drinking). Lesson: design from the production cycle and the nearby resource. It is proximity design at the farm level. See also vernacular design .

Avui architecture

Dani Freixes reinterprets Raixa as an interpretation center, recovering ethnological elements.
TEd'A arquitectes : houses that reinterpret the construction systems of the Majorcan house.
Flores & Prats : “rehabilitate without deleting” method, applicable to possessions.
Can Lis (Utzon): marès pavilions separated and united by patios; foreign look that learns from the local.
Coderch, Hotel de Mar : contrast; tourist modernity, not vernacular.

For the project

Atlas: draw the possessió as a process diagram (water, oil, grain, livestock).
Visit-workshop in Raixa with the Consorci Serra de Tramuntana.
Related trades: pedra en sec , marès , teules , ferro forjat .

Frequently asked questions

What is Casa de possessió (Mallorcan country estate house)?

The possessió is the great Majorcan rural estate. Its houses of possession are the small built nucleus that governs it: housing, warehouses, stables and…

Sources

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

Open it in the atlas →