OHLAB pairs cork and CLT with a 1935 block at Palma's Terreno Barrio Hotel

Mallorca studio OHLAB has completed the 41-room Terreno Barrio Hotel in Palma, pairing a renovated 1935 heritage building with a new seven-storey structure built from cross-laminated timber and clad in cork. The project sits in El Terreno, on the western edge of the Mallorcan capital, and the studio sees it as more than accommodation for visitors.

The hotel was envisioned as "a catalyst for the neighbourhood", serving as a community hub as well as a tourist destination.

"Terreno is not conceived as a tourist object imposed on its context, but as a device for exchange – a hotel that, before being a hotel, aims to be an extension of the barrio," OHLAB founders Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver told Built Current. "This is not a slogan; it is the principle that orders programme, thresholds, atmospheres and materiality."

What does the hotel actually contain?

The two buildings play distinct roles. OHLAB calls the renovated 1935 apartment block – designed by local architect Francesc Casas – "the stage". It holds the reception, restaurant and bar, a club, and a roof bar.

The new CLT building is "the bazaar", the complex's civic heart. Wrapping a new public plaza, it houses community-led spaces:

• a cafe and bookshop with a gallery
• coworking areas
• pop-up retail
• a gym, spa and cinema

How did OHLAB treat each building?

The studio took different approaches to the two structures, exploring reuse in both. "Here, circularity was understood not only as an environmental or material strategy, but also as an economic, social and territorial one, a way of keeping value within the local ecosystem by activating residents, culture, crafts, suppliers and everyday life," Hernaiz and Oliver said.

In the heritage building, the interior design revives the existing structure rather than covering it. Communal spaces have a theatrical character, with patterned floor tiles and heavy curtains. A golden mirror bar and a wool curtain installation by artist Sylvia Sanchez Montoya stand out.

In the bedrooms, colour-blocking creates a horizontal divide between top and bottom. Floors and furniture share matching terrazzo, produced by local manufacturer Huguet using the project's demolition waste.

The new building pushes materials further. Cork clads the courtyard-facing north facade, while timber louvres shade the windows on the other exterior walls. Inside, the exposed CLT structure carries a playful palette – the cafe and shop combines shades of brown and lime green across terrazzo floors and wooden furniture.

Bedrooms in the new block feature murals by Mallorcan artist Albert Pinya, bathrooms housed inside mirrored boxes, and timber flooring that merges into the joinery.

Who made it, and with what?

José Taltavull developed the hotel's concept after being brought on board by hotelier Lydia Piñero, whose Grupo Piñero is the client. He appointed graphic design office StudioRoses for the visual identity, which fed into OHLAB's scheme.

The logo's red recurs across the complex: on the ramped floor between bar and reception, the stage in the club, and the sculptural stools in the bar.

Most furniture was designed by OHLAB or sourced from Mallorca-based manufacturers. A DJ table was made from cork left over from construction, and Mallorcan artist Pedro Óliver contributed the neon lighting pieces found throughout.

The wider team includes structural engineer HIMA, CLT supplier Egoin, Passive House consultant Plus Aurea and LEED consultant PGI.

Terreno Barrio Hotel joins a string of major openings in Palma, a city in the midst of a cultural renaissance. El Terreno is central to that story, particularly since the Mallorca-based shoe brand Camper completed its 15,000-square-metre Project Gomila in 2023 – a development that includes the Jasper Morrison-designed Can Pa bakery. OHLAB's own Can Santacilia residential development and Paral·lel apartment complex add to the studio's growing footprint in the city, and Terreno suggests the neighbourhood's regeneration now has a civic anchor rather than just a series of destinations.