On Mallorca, people spend much of the year outdoors. The terrace and garden are often where daily life happens: eating, reading, having friends round, resting. How well the pool and terrace are planned has a big effect on how you use the house.
We design outdoor spaces in architecture with the same care as our interior design studio on Mallorca gives to interiors, and we plan light, materials, shade and planting together. Below we explain what matters if the outdoor space is to suit the house, the climate and the landscape.
Dividing the terrace and garden into areas
We start planning an outdoor space at the door of the house. Terrace, garden and living room are treated as one sequence of rooms that run into each other. A covered veranda, a shaded dining area, seating in the evening sun, a quiet spot among the plants: each one gets used at a different time of day.
So divide the outdoor space into areas. One large open surface tends to go unused. Set places for cooking, eating, relaxing and swimming give the garden an order and mean you can use it all day.
The pool: shape, water colour and coping
How a pool looks comes down to a few decisions. A clean, rectilinear shape suits contemporary architecture; soft, curved outlines suit a rustic finca inland.
The colour of the water depends on the lining. Pale sand and beige tones give light turquoise water like that of the island's coves; darker greys and greens make the pool look like a pond that reflects the sky. For the coping we favour local natural stone such as Mallorcan sandstone (marés) or travertine, which stays pleasant underfoot and heats up far less than dark surfaces.
Mediterranean tiles and mosaic
When a pool is to have colour, we use matte mosaic or handmade cement tiles in muted blues, greens or sand tones. We recommend a single calm colour. A busy pattern often looks dated within a few years.
Infinity pool or classic basin
An infinity pool only makes sense on a slope or with a long view, where the water's edge appears to run out into the landscape. Without that view, a classic basin with a visible stone edge often looks better, and it is considerably simpler to maintain.
Saltwater or chlorine
Saltwater systems generate chlorine in a low, steady concentration from salt and are felt by many to be gentler on skin and eyes. They need fewer chemicals. Over time, though, salt can attack certain natural stones and metals, so the materials around the pool have to be chosen with that in mind. A classic chlorine system remains the more robust choice where delicate natural-stone edges are involved. We therefore choose the system together with the materials.
Shade: pergola, sails and trees
Without shade, you can barely use an outdoor space on Mallorca in high summer. We prefer to combine built shade with shade from plants and trees.
A pergola of timber or stone frames the dining area and can be planted with vine, bougainvillea or jasmine, which casts shade in summer and lets light through in winter. Shade sails and fabric awnings are more flexible and look light. The most pleasant shade comes from trees: an old olive, a group of cypresses, a carob or a fig tie the garden to the landscape and keep growing over the years.
Outdoor furniture and weatherproof fabrics
Outdoor furniture has to cope with sun, salt and the occasional rain. We choose a few generous pieces in durable materials. For textiles, go for solution-dyed, fade-resistant outdoor fabrics: they do not bleach, dry quickly and hold their colour for years. Muted, natural tones (sand, linen, terracotta, olive) look good for longer than fashionable colours and suit the surroundings.
Materials: natural stone, teak and terracotta
For a Mediterranean outdoor space, use materials from the region: natural stone for floors and walls, teak or another weather-resistant hardwood for furniture and decks, terracotta for planters and paving. These materials age well: timber weathers to a silvery grey, terracotta develops a patina, and stone still looks good after years of use. They are also the materials the island has built with for centuries.
Mediterranean planting
Mediterranean plants have a practical advantage: they cope with heat and drought, need little water and look good all year. Olive, cypress, oleander, lavender, rosemary, cistus and agave are evergreen or silver-leaved and give the garden its framework. Fragrant herbs and citrus trees belong close to the terrace. Planting like this suits the island better than a lawn that needs constant watering through the summer.
Planting suited to the climate needs little water and looks good all year round.
Connecting inside and outside
In a Mediterranean house, how inside and outside connect matters a great deal. Level thresholds, a floor that runs on from the living room onto the terrace, large sliding or folding glazing, and colours and materials chosen to match all link the two. When the same stone floor runs inside and out and the view reaches unbroken to the pool and into the garden, the whole house feels larger, brighter and calmer.
If you are reworking your outdoor space on Mallorca or planning a pool, we look after the project from the first idea to the finished terrace. We visit your plot, look at its orientation, views and light, and design an outdoor space around them that suits your house and the way you live on the island.
What your own project will roughly cost, you can work out in two minutes. Work out your budget →