Arch. PALOMA HERNAIZ

MM HOUSE, A PASSIVE HOUSE IN PALMA DE MALLORCA

This house looks for the maximum energy efficiency adapting itself to the program, the solar orientation, the views and the slope of the terrain.
The project optimizes the program grouping it in four boxes –kitchen, living-dinning, main bedroom and guest bedrooms- which can be used together or independently. Each box is placed carefully on the ground and rotates on its axis with precision to find the best views and orientation for their use. The bedrooms face the East, the garden, and the Bellver Castle; the living and dining room face South-east, the sea, and the garden; the kitchen faces South and the vegetable garden; and in the attic over the living room, the terrace looks towards the view of the sea and its big window over the living room faces South allowing the winter sun to warm the main space of the house while the eaves of the roof protects from the summer sun.
Each box has large openings towards the best orientations and sights, and smaller openings on the opposite façade allowing cross ventilation and taking advantage of the East-West breezes of the place. The South openings are recessed to let the sun enter in winter and block it in summer, while the East and West openings have exterior shutters.
The house has been designed according to PASSIVHAUS standards to achieve the maximum energy efficiency.
A rigorous infographic and thermal study have been made to ensure an optimal heat input, maximizing it in winter and minimizing it in summer.
The façade has an exterior insulation system that increases the insulation thickness up to 15cm and strictly guarding all joints to completely avoid any thermal bridge. The infiltrations through the façade have been reduced to the minimum, and the hermeticism of the enclosure has been maximized to overcome pressurization tests in every space. The heat exchanger ensures air renovation wasting no energy and it is optimized to use the heat generated with showers’ steam and cooking to transform it into heating.
Thanks to this design cooling is not necessary, which is typically an issue in the hot days of Mallorca’s summer, and the heating demand is only 11kWh/m2a (a typical house of this characteristic in Mallorca would have a heating demand of 85 to 100 kWh/m2a) which is solved with a small perimeter underfloor heating circuit. The energy to heat the hot water is obtained almost entirely from the solar thermal installation.
The pitched roofs have a system for collecting rainwater, three of them get water for irrigation and general use while the fourth roof is “the clean one” and collects water for consumption. For this purpose, two separate tanks, one of 40 m3 and another 8 m3, are arranged taking advantage of the gaps created between the housing and the slope of the terrain. With this measures, the house is completely autonomous in terms of water. The garden includes a vegetable patch, low maintenance native vegetation, and deciduous trees along the south of the house to protect from the summer sun.
The project has been made with a low construction budget and a very low cost of energy maintenance. It is a home that promotes environmental and sustainability values, reporting savings and comfort without incurring additional economic effort.
The house was finished last September and monitoring its performance has been key to value the results beyond the happiness and satisfaction of the clients. As of April, the clients have not turned on the heat at all reporting an interior temperature (measured daily –day and night) for the winter between 21ºC to 24ºC, with exterior temperatures between 5º to 15º.
First winter living in the house and it had ZERO heating consumption (100% passive) and ZERO water expense (100% rainwater).

Paloma Hernaiz received her diploma in Architecture from the ETSAM in Madrid and Master of Science in Adv. Arch. Design degree from Columbia University in New York. Following her diploma, she worked in the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London pursuing historical research. Prior establishing her own office she gained 9 years of professional experience in architectural offices in different countries where she had the opportunity of pursuing projects of very different scales and requirements. In Madrid she collaborated with Estudio Lamela / Richard Rogers Partnership; in New York, she was working with G-tests where she collaborated with the office of Frank O. Gehry; in China, she worked in Shanghai and Beijing at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).

AWARDS OF THE OFFICE:

2016. Winner at WAF (The World Architecture Festival) with MM House
2017. Double winners at INSIDE with Puro hotel and Emardental Clinic
2018. Honourable mention at ASCER (ceramic awards) with MM house
2019. Double Finalists of the Best of the Year Awards with Puro hotel and Emardental Clinic
2020. Best energy efficiency project in X NAN architecture and construction awards with MM house
2021. Winners of 38th Contract Design awards in healthcare category with Emardental clinic
2022. Shortlisted WAN House of the Year with MM house
2023. Selected as one of the Record Interiors 2016 with RA Offices
2024. Triple Finalists AAP awards -American Architecture Prize: MM house (Silver-residential category) /

Puro Hotel (Silver-category hospitality) / Emardental Clinic (Bronze – category workplaces)

2016. Finalists WIN awards in the category of hotels with PURO Hotel

2015. Finalists WIN awards – Emerging Interior Practice of the year
2016. Finalists Great Indoors Award, Maastricht (results in November 2015)

2014. Winner of the 40 under 40 awards, Chicago
2015. Winner of the Best of the Year Awards in the category of Retail Historic Restoration with Relojeria Alemana Borne
2016. Finalists of the Best of the Year Awards in the category of Casual Dining with Sala de Despiece
2017. Winner of the WIN Awards 2014 in the category of Retail

2013. Winner of the Great Indoors Awards 2013 in the category of Show & Sell with Relojeria Alemana Porto Adriano
2014. Honored as Mention at A+ Awards 2013 (Architizer) in the category of Residential Interiors

2012. Winner of the WAN Awards in the category of Retail & Leisure Interiors

2011. Nominados para los Premios Mies van der Rohe 2011 (Premio de Arquitectura Contemporánea de la Unión Europea)